The Wizard's World: YR 1
by Mrs.InsaneOne
Summary: Harry has returned to the wizarding world, as foretold, his father & Pokémon in tow. Dark plots come to light when Harry Ketchum comes face to face w/ Harry Potter. Story is AU. Evil!Dumbledore, Weasley Bashing, & light Hermione Bashing. Edits completed on 2/12. Story is still COMPLETE
1. Reflections

**Summary:** _Harry has returned to the wizarding world, as foretold, his father and Pokémon in tow. Dark plots come to light when Harry Ketchum comes face to face with Harry Potter. _ This story is AU, No Pairings. Evil!Dumbledore, Weasley Bashing, & light Hermione Bashing.

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _I just wanted to take a moment to remind my readers that the HP side of this story will continue to mostly be AU. The Pokémon portions will be somewhat limited as they are no longer living in the Pokémon Universe, though there will still be references to things in the PokéWorld which will also be somewhat AU. That basically means that I will not just regurgitate canon events/facts from out of the HP universe or detailed episodes/scenes from the Pokémon worlds. The entire plot is, I think, somewhat original and based upon my own imagination._

_As was the case in The Wishing Door, the timelines of both worlds flow separately. (IE: for every year that passes in the Wizarding Universe, two years pass in the PokéWorld universe.) So, while Harry was in Ash's world for twelve years, only six years had passed in his original world. The ONLY times that the two separate worlds will line up, are on Harry's birthdays every year, based upon the timeline in the Wizarding World. (IE: For every birthday Harry experiences in the Wizard's World two birthdays will have passed in the PokéWorld.) I will eventually link a detailed timeline of events for both worlds to my author's page once I've find the time to type up my hand written one and convert it to html._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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><p><em><strong><span>The Wizard's World: Year One<span>  
><strong>Chapter 1: Reflections_

_Saturday Morning, June 15, 1991  
>Flamel Estate, Dijon Region<br>France_

Deep in the wilds of France, buried in a hidden valley just to the south of the Seine River, in the Dijon Region, there was a veritable fortress unseen by the outside world for well over six hundred years. A stunning structure of Rococo design, the large château would have been a historical goldmine – if not for the fact that it was hidden behind some of the most extensive protective wards in the entire world. The owners of the elegant château would have been considered even more of a historical interest, for their family line was rumored to have died out in the early fourteen hundreds. In truth, the family had gone underground at the time and two centuries later their grand children changed their last names in order to further protect the family's greatest secret.

The family in question was that of the Flamels, and their secret was discovering the alchemic formula for creating the mythical and much sought-after Philosopher's Stone. It was an element rumored to turn common metals into semi-precious and precious metals (such as turning lead into gold) and bestow immortality to the owner through a potion called the Elixir of Life. The Flamels had staged their very public deaths (to the non-magical population) in fourteen-oh-nine and fourteen-ten, Perenelle preceding Nicolas so that the younger man might have another year to put his affairs in order. The staged deaths were necessary to throw off the investigations of the French King at the time; the monarch having had his men looking into the rumors of Flamel's sudden increase in wealth.

The wizarding world, on the other hand, was well aware that the Flamels still lived, even though they withdrew almost completely from magical society during the sixteen hundreds in order to stop the rising Dark Lords from attempting to steal the Stone or the secret to creating the Stone. It was at this time that the youngest great-grandson changed his name from Flamel to Potter, when he married the love of his life. This actually inspired his older brothers (and later his cousins) to do the same, each taking their wife's maiden name to further obscure their relationship.

The three brothers then left France to establish their families in different countries. Guy Flamel, now Guy Schmidt, and his wife Helen moved to Austria. Philippe Flamel took his wife's last name, Russo, and the two of them in turn headed to Italy. The youngest, Markus, and his wife Beatrice, then fled to England where they and their children hid their longevity with carefully plotted out (and faked) deaths right up until Richard Charlus (Markus and Beatrice's great-great-grandson) let slip his true identity to Albus Dumbledore at the end of the nineteenth century.

At the turn of the century, the hidden Flamels all around Europe began dying under mysterious circumstances. Nicolas had investigated the suspicious deaths of his children and his multitude of grandchildren but had been unable to pinpoint the person responsible. That was until Markus and Beatrice, their four children, and all but one of their many grandchildren were murdered in their home one Halloween night in the late forties. Richard, the only survivor of the terrible massacre, had stumbled out of the Floo, covered in blood, bemoaning the fact that he'd doomed the entire family.

The blame was, at the time, placed on the followers of Grindelwald; a well known Dark Wizard rising on the coattails of the chaos caused by the muggle dictator, Adolf Hitler. Richard confessed to speaking of the Flamel and Potter connection to Albus Dumbledore, who had at the time befriended the young Gellert Grindelwald. Dumbledore swore that Grindelwald betrayed them all, and he was believed, until Richard and his wife Gertrude were murdered some five years after Grindelwald had been defeated on another dark Halloween night. They were survived by their son Charlus, who later married Dorea Black. The pair of them had two children; two sons they named Nicolas and James.

Nicolas unfortunately did not survive; he died of the dragon pox two years after James was born, leaving his younger brother as the sole surviving heir to both families. During the late seventies, nearly thirty years after his parents were murdered, Charlus and Dorea met their death at the hands of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters, once more leaving only a single Potter alive. Less than five years later, James and his wife would suffer the same fate as those before him.

Nicolas had tried repeatedly to bring his grandchildren home, so he could protect them but at each turn he'd been blocked by Dumbledore. It was after Charlus's death that Nicolas began suspecting that Dumbledore was behind the string of his descendants' murders. This was confirmed, in his mind, when a series of threatening notes began turning up shortly after young James started attending Hogwarts just a few short years before Charlus and his wife were murdered. Legally, there was nothing Nicolas and Perenelle could do, mainly because of their long seclusion from the magical world and their staged deaths in the non-magical world. That was how Dumbledore had prevented them from taking Charlus, and later James, out of England.

Today, the cycle was starting all over again; as their missing great-great-great grandson, whom Dumbledore had kidnapped and hidden under a Fidelius Charm, was due to begin his magical schooling. Another unsigned note from Dumbledore had arrived less than a week earlier, with yet another demand for them to provide him with a piece of the Philosopher's Stone in return for the continued survival of their last surviving grandson.

"Nicolas," Perenelle called sharply as she walked into the library where her husband was leaning over a blood red stone. "You are _not_ considering giving in to that charlatan's demands, are you?"

"What other choice do we have, my dear?"

"We've held him off for over a century now, what harm could it be to wait him out another ten or so years? We have a lifetime ahead of us, he is a mere mortal!"

"Yes, we could, but what of our missing grandson? He is our last. Dumbledore has murdered all the others through trickery and lies. Would that I had seen the man's true intentions when he befriended young Richard Charlus in eighteen-ninety-two, I would have done something… if only to stop young Richard from speaking of our family's history. Unfortunately, by the time Richard was born, you and I had distanced ourselves from our grandchildren in order to maintain the illusion that we had no surviving children."

"But to give him a _Stone_!?"

"Do you think so little of me, my Pigeon?" Nicolas chided as he glared at his wife with a wounded expression. "I am not sending him just any stone, this stone has strings attached."

"And what, pray tell, kind of strings have you attached to this particular stone, that make it indistinguishable from all of the other stone shards we have in our possession?" Perenelle countered as she moved closer in order to inspect said stone.

"First of all, it is incomplete," Nicolas explained as he pushed the stone closer to his wife. "The final step, which neutralizes the poisons from the Elixir of Life, has been conveniently left undone. This also has the tragic side effect of rendering the lead into gold transformations unstable – meaning that any precious metals that are created using this stone will disintegrate within five years of the transformation; the higher the amount of precious metal transmuted in one sitting, the faster the degradation."

"I'm listening," Perenelle drawled with more than a touch of interest as she began seeing the stone in a new light.

"Next, I've woven a layer of blood wards around the stone. While the stone will work for anyone, if someone other than our last grandchild touches it with his or her bare skin while using the stone, the person will be cursed. The poisonous toxins in the stone will be released and absorbed through the skin of the unworthy one who touches it."

"And if some innocent accidentally comes in contact with the stone?"

"So long as the person does not attempt to use the stone, he or she would remain unharmed; the ward is both blood and intent based," Nicolas stated as he wandlessly levitated the stone onto a scrap of thick brown parchment. "And finally, I have imbedded a small self destruct charm in the heart of the stone. Should Dumbledore attempt to break the stone down in order to reverse engineer the alchemy behind the stone's construction, it will explode violently, taking everything within a fifteen foot radius."

"Nicolas!"

"Now, now, Perenelle, my pigeon," Nicolas soothed. "I will give Dumbledore a convoluted warning about the destructive properties of the stone and hints of the repercussions. I will also do my best to convince him that this is our last stone, so that if anything happens to it, we will be forced to 'put our affairs in order' and prepare for death. The wards at Hogwarts will protect both the castle and Hogsmeade should he recklessly experiment on the stone at the castle. And you know he wouldn't want any potential witnesses to those experiments; so it is safe to bet that he would not undertake such risks with the castle full of children. He'd stand to loose far too much prestige and trust of the wizarding population if he harmed a school full of children and he would not wish to share the fabled benefits of the stone."

"I don't like it, that man is far too arrogant to heed your warnings."

"I know, dearest, but what else can we do? This is our family on the line now, and without our last heir, what would stop Dumbledore from claiming our vast stores of knowledge for his own? Most of the world believes we died many centuries ago and those that know we still live believe Dumbledore's lies that he befriended me earlier this century. And the pompous fool of a puppet running the English Ministry would gladly jump at the chance to put one over on the French, which is what would happen if we were to pass on without an heir. Our legacy, pilfered by some sneaking goat herder without a single moral fiber in his being! I shudder to think what would become of the magical world should Dumbledore get his hands on a true Stone."

"I wish there was another way," Perenelle whispered as she watched her husband wrap the stone inside the brown vellum and tie it with a black string. "Can you not find someway to break the charms he hid our grandson behind?"

"I have tried everything, Pigeon; scrying, blood magic, blood traces, mystical trances, star plotting," Nicolas bemoaned as he layered protective wards over the small package on his desk. "I've even gone through all of the records, both magical and muggle, trying to find some trace of the boy. He's wound the secret so tight I couldn't even find him should he be sitting in the next room unless Dumbledore himself told me he was there! The only other one who could break the charm is the boy himself, were he to discover his heritage."

"Can the goblins help?"

"I don't know. They are so standoffish unless one has enough precious metals or stones to offer, and while we have gold, silver, and platinum aplenty, they know our source is unlimited and would feel it an unfair trade. Sometimes the stone is far more a curse than a blessing, my dearest."

"Do the spells affect the inheritance ritual?"

"I couldn't say for sure, not knowing exactly what the manipulative goat hid under the Fidelius. All we can do is hope something will give before it is too late."

"Shall I deliver your stone to the fool, then?" Perenelle asked wearily as she stopped fighting against the inevitable.

"No, take it to Gringotts in Paris, they have instructions to transfer it over the channel where it is to be placed in vault seven-thirteen," Nicolas countered as he penned a short note that he attached to the package. "I will send a separate letter to Dumbledore, to let him know we will capitulate with his demands."

"Very well, I shall return soon, my love," Perenelle said before she shrank in on herself and sprouted gray feathers all over her body. A few seconds later, a large peregrine falcon grasped the package and letter in her claws before diving out through the opened library window.

"Safe journey, my Pigeon," Nicolas called as he watched his wife flying off into the distance.

* * *

><p><em>Thursday Afternoon, June 20, 1991<br>Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts Castle  
>Scotland<em>

A week and a half after sending the latest letter to the Flamels, Dumbledore finally received a reply from the ancient witch and wizard. It was with a triumphant sneer that Dumbledore read the thinly veiled threats under a guise of capitulation. He paid no mind to the hints that those not of Flamel bloodlines would suffer greatly if they dared use the stone for ill gain; arrogantly believing he was too powerful to be affect by such trivialities. He was more than slightly miffed that Flamel had seen fit to only send the stone (thankfully the man's last stone in existence according to the letter) and not the actual process on how to make more. Albus would just have to experiment with the stone once he had it in his possession, when he had time.

Feeling in a considerably better mood, now that his plans against the Flamels were running smoothly along, Dumbledore continued with his task of making several more duplicates of Harry Potter's Hogwarts letter that was due to be sent out in just a few weeks. He had nearly two hundred of the letters already sealed and ready to be addressed (he'd wait until the last minute to mark the addresses in the event the Dursley's attempted to flee from their house to escape them), and only had another six hundred copies to go.

Humming a merry tune, Dumbledore flicked his wand at the original letter (that he'd stolen right out from under Minerva's nose the last time they met to discuss the class schedule for the new term) and then tapped it against a blank piece of parchment and watched as ink poured from his wand onto the paper to form an exact copy of the introductory letter. Another flick dried the ink and a third folded the new letter into an envelope that was sealed with a glob of wax and the Hogwarts Crest.

At the rate he was manufacturing the copies, he'd be completed nearly a week ahead of schedule – which gave him enough time to catch up on the latest news regarding up and coming young witches and wizards throughout the world. It wouldn't do to have a foreigner more powerful than himself rising up unexpectedly just when he was so close to securing all of Great Britain.

* * *

><p><em>Wednesday Afternoon, July 31, 1991<br>Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley  
>London, England<em>

Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was deeply indebted to Albus Dumbledore for standing up for him some fifty years prior after having been expelled for something he didn't do. Hagrid, as all of his friends called him, always felt proud when Dumbledore selected him for special assignments; such as gathering intelligence about the movements of the giants (during both of the previous wizarding wars due to his heritage as a half-giant), collecting, protecting, and transporting Harry Potter to his relatives on the night his parents were murdered, tracking down Harry and delivering the boy his Hogwarts letter when his relatives flaked out and tried to run, escorting Harry through Diagon Ally to get his money and school supplies, and picking up a top secret package from a special vault deep within the bowels of Gringotts – just to name a few.

The huge, gentle man with an unhealthy fascination with monsters, considered himself Dumbledore's staunchest follower and right-hand man.

Unfortunately, what Hagrid believed couldn't be further from the truth – but poor Hagrid didn't know that. If someone walked up and told him that Dumbledore had fingered him for the murder of Myrtle Simmons, Hagrid would have denied it vehemently before bashing said person's skull against the nearest solid surface; even if they could offer irrefutable proof. Even if it was obviously the truth, Hagrid wouldn't believe any evidence presented to him if it painted his 'savior' in a negative light. It is tragic that his devotion was so misplaced and unknown to Hagrid, constantly reinforced with a few well placed loyalty potions laced in the mead served at the staff table during lunch and supper every day school was in session.

That very same devotion (both real and potion induced) that saw Hagrid believing only the best about one Albus Dumbledore, was about to land Hagrid into some very hot water. Hagrid was currently escorting Harry Potter (or rather, he was escorting Dumbledore's well-made clone of the boy once known as Harry Potter) down the center of Diagon Alley towards Gringotts Bank. In his pocket, Hagrid carried an innocent little gold key that would shortly be giving him no little amount of grief. It was a key given to Hagrid by Dumbledore, just the day before, when Hagrid had been given the duty of chasing down the Dursleys to deliver Harry's letter to him.

The key belonged to the Potters, specifically it belonged to one Harry James Potter, and would open said boy's trust vault (vault number six hundred forty-seven) that his parents had opened just before Harry had been born in the year nineteen-eighty. Unfortunately, said key had been stolen from the Potter's cottage in Godric's Hollow by Dumbledore no more than thirty minutes after Hagrid had taken Harry from the rubble. This normally wouldn't have been a problem, as Dumbledore could have easily stated he was merely holding on to said key for young Harry; especially since the Harry Potter with the half giant was supposed to be getting the key back from Hagrid once they'd finished collecting enough money to purchase supplies from the trust vault.

The problem was the fact that the _real_ Harry Potter had shown up at Gringotts (before sunrise) and after causing a minor disturbance (there was no bloodshed so the goblins couldn't call it a major disturbance, even if it created all kinds of problems at the time), proved himself to be the true owner of vault six hundred forty-seven as well as several other vaults hours earlier. The timing couldn't have been worse for poor Hagrid.

Just a scant two hours before our gentle half giant presented himself in front of the teller to make a withdrawal from the Potter trust vault, Harry Ketchum (formerly known as Harry Potter) signed the last of the documents that allowed him to claim ownership of all his family vaults. That single act voided the legitimacy of the tiny golden key that Hagrid currently had in his possession; the goblin magic used to link all vault keys to their vaults severing the link between the vault and the key in Hagrid's possession the moment Harry's blood dried on the vault contract. A fact that the goblin teller that Hagrid had approached was instantly aware of as the magic used to create said little key gave off the counterfeit signal that indicated a recent key change or replacement.

Only four things saved Hagrid from a quick and ghastly beheading at the precise moment; one, he hadn't been aware that there was a problem with the key, two, he wasn't the one who'd had the key in his possession for the last ten years, three, he hadn't actually taken anything out of the vault in question, and four, he was in the presence of what appeared to be Harry Potter. Hagrid wisely declined to press young Harry's claim to the vault, stating that he'd forward the matter to Albus Dumbledore to straighten out when he returned to Hogwarts. It helped that he also willingly gave up the now fraudulent key without a word of protest.

Knowing that Harry still needed his supplies, and thinking that Dumbledore would reimburse him later, Hagrid calmly requested to be taken to his own vault to retrieve the funds for his young charge before recalling the second half of his mission involving a small package in vault number seven hundred thirteen. The goblins accommodated him after checking the validity of his own larger, silver key and took both the man and the boy down into the tunnels where Hagrid collected a meager forty-five galleons from out of his vault. They also stopped by the other vault to pick up the package that Dumbledore had ordered Hagrid to retrieve from the bank.

The rest of the afternoon passed fairly quickly and according to plan from that point forward, though Hagrid was forced to purchase a good number of Harry's supplies from second hand stores. Harry the clone didn't seem to mind though, for the animated boy never complained once, not even when some of the equipment and books seemed far worse for wear than what would normally be sold.

Later that night, after seeing the clone returned to his relatives, Hagrid relayed the difficulties at the bank to Dumbledore. Tragically, Dumbledore was unable (or unwilling) to reimburse Hagrid at this moment, though Hagrid didn't seem too bothered as he considered the money well spent. Even though that money had basically just been thrown away on useless supplies and an expensive snowy owl for a clone that didn't have the capacity to appreciate the gesture; not that Hagrid was aware of that particular detail. Dumbledore was very concerned about the issue with the Potter trust vault (he eventually wanted the money that was inside it after all) but he simply played it off as a simply mistake of handing over the wrong key, or some such nonsense, and thanked his groundskeeper for alerting him to the problem.

Of far more concern to the manipulative headmaster, was the small package that Hagrid had picked up during his excursion. A package he had been led to believe contained the only Philosopher's Stone currently in existence.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Hello again everyone, just a quick note here to let everyone know what is going on with this series. I recently spent quite a bit of time cleaning up The Wishing Door and WWYR1 as well as working on finishing WWYR2 (the first chapter of which I hope to have posted shortly after the first of the year). I've already uploaded/reposted the entirety of The Wishing Door, though there is no real need for you to go back and reread the story since I didn't really make any changes to the basic story; though you are more than welcome to do so if you are so inclined. _

_On the other hand, I did make several changes to this story in order to repair some glaring plot holes that I found when trying to write YR2 – which was why it has been taking me so long to finish YR2. The good news is that with the plot holes repaired, writing the sequel has become easier which is why I hope to post the first chapter after January first. The biggest of plot holes was fixed by writing an entirely new final chapter for this story (instead of inserting the new material mid-story where it would be harder to find) so I'll be posting that later on once I finish throwing up the edited chapters. _

_There is no real need to re-read the entire story at this point, even if I did clean up a few rough parts of the story, but as always the choice is up to you. I also have a couple of omakes for this story that I will be posting after everything else is done and I will post the first one once I post the first chapter of YR2 so as to let everyone know the sequel is up. In between the updated chapters of this series, I will continue to post chapters on Banished Destiny (my Gundam Wing/HP crossover) and on Haunted (my Natsume Yujincho/HP crossover); the former of which is currently half posted and the latter of which has under fifteen chapters left to post. My Chaos series and my Discovering series will both be given attention around the first of the year as well. _

_Anyway, enjoy the chapter! – Jenn_

**12-26-12:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	2. Mislabeled Correspondence?

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 2: Mislabeled Correspondence?<span>_

_Wednesday Afternoon, July 31, 1991  
>Potter Property, Northern Highlands<br>Scotland_

Once the disorientation had worn off from the odd mode of transportation that had been used to bring them to the remote location they found themselves in, Harry and Ash began setting up camp. The two men worked in tandem silently, their movements coordinated without the need of communication due to the many years of experience they had in traveling together through the wildernesses in what they both considered their home world. It didn't take them long to set up a large six man tent, dig out a fire pit, stockpile a considerable amount of burnable kindling from the surrounding area (helped in no small part by the larger Pokémon), and pull out those supplies they felt would be needed during the next couple of days (such as food, clothes, cooking utensils, and survey equipment). Once camp was complete, the two set off to survey the immediate surroundings and check for any potential hazards (such as dangerous wild animals or unstable terrain).

The property they had been deposited on was located in the northern part of Scotland known as the Highlands. According to the goblins, the area was located midway between a city called Ullapool on the western cost and Wick on the north-eastern coast. They were fairly high up in the mountains, sandwiched between two tributary rivers that marked the western, northern, and south eastern boundaries of this particular Potter property. To the south west was a small unnamed loch and a lush valley tucked between another two mountain ridges.

Griphook, one of the goblins that had brought them to the remote area, had told them that the entire property had been warded to prevent muggle trespassers from stumbling onto the land. He had gone on to explain that this particular property was suspended outside of normal space, meaning that it was tucked into a small pocket dimension that prevented the land from being found by conventional methods. He'd also mentioned the word unplottable but neither Ash nor Harry quite understood what that meant. All that mattered to the pair was that no one could show up unannounced unless brought by a goblin, by goblin made portkey, or was a postal bird.

It was beautiful, untouched by industry or technology, remote, and large enough that they could easily get lost if they weren't careful. It was in fact, perfect for their needs or more specifically, for the needs of their Pokémon. Ash might have preferred being just a touch closer to civilization, if only so that they easily restock their supplies, get medical attention in case of an emergency, or gather information regarding this world; but over all Ash knew he couldn't have found a better place for them to settle down.

By nightfall, the two men had returned to their campsite in higher spirits. Aside from the stress of their journey, coupled with the frustration of their less than friendly welcome by the goblins, they were actually better off than they had anticipated. Things could have ended far worse for the pair and they both knew it. After a light supper, that consisted of a few berries and prepackaged sandwiches that they shared with the Pokémon, they turned in for the night.

The next morning, Ash addressed something that had been bothering him for quite sometime; since before Hypno had helped Harry recall his name actually, he'd just shoved it to the back of his mind for so long he'd forgotten. "Harry? What happened with the goblins yesterday?"

"What do you mean, dad?" Harry asked in confusion as he looked up from where he was rekindling last night's campfire so they could cook breakfast.

"When we first arrived, the large army of goblins that greeted us at the door was ready to either kill us or throw us in the dungeons. Shortly after you repeated the riddle that the unown had given to you and right after Ragnok ordered the guards to arrest us; you said something about them having no right to take us prisoner or confiscate our belongings and something about consequences should they fail to listen."

"Huh… I don't remember speaking to the goblins at all between repeating the unown riddle and the start of our private meeting with Ragnok. I don't even recall how I got from that first room to the room where the meeting was held," Harry stated after giving the matter some thought.

"I was afraid that was what you were going to say," Ash admitted with a sigh as he frowned thoughtfully while he dug out some eggs and sausage for their meal along with several bags of homemade poffins for the Pokémon. "This isn't the first time something like this has happened either. It worries me a bit."

"Do you think it has something to do with my magic?"

"Possibly, but until we know more it's hard to say. For now, the best thing we can do is just keep track of any… I guess we could call them blackouts for lack of a better word… as I was saying, it's best we make note of any blackouts you have had in the past and any future episodes that occur."

"Alright, dad. How did you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled would probably be easiest until we get the camp stove set up," Ash replied as he opened one bag of poffins and began offering a handful to each of the smaller Pokémon while giving the larger ones an entire bag.

The next three days passed fairly quickly, as they explored further and further from the camp; with Harry drawing a detailed map of the area as they went so they wouldn't become lost. On the fourth day, they moved their camp into a series of caves that they found a little lower down the slope of the mountain nearer one of the rivers. The system of caverns was fairly huge, though they weren't able to get beyond the first three caves due to a previous cave-in that blocked a large portion of the tunnel.

Shortly after moving into the caves; an exhausted brown and cream owl with a heart shaped face collapsed just inside the mouth of the cave. The creature's feathers were battered and bent all out of shape; it was even missing a few flight feathers and more than one tail feather. The poor bird had obviously been through several storms at some point and looked to have been attacked by a larger hawk or eagle. Clutched in the owl's talons was a ragged and torn thick yellow envelope.

It was Pikachu who had stumbled across the strange bird in the early evening when the group returned to the caves after clearing the brush from the deer trail that stretched from the caverns to the river. Harry, after seeing the state of the poor creature, scooped the owl into his arms and carried it into the cave so he could treat its injuries. As he treated the bird he couldn't help but notice the letter it carried in its claw was addressed to him. It was strange though, because the name on the envelope was his birth name, not his adopted name. Setting the letter aside, Harry put it out of his mind as he gently fed the wounded and exhausted bird tiny bits of an Oran berry to help it recover some of its strength.

Once it had eaten its fill, which hadn't really been very much, Harry cleaned and bandaged the worst of the scratches and straightened up the bird's feathers as best he could. He then placed the now sleeping bird in a makeshift nest made from an extra blanket so it could rest undisturbed. Harry then turned his attention to the mysterious letter. He was just contemplating on opening the bizarre letter when a second owl soared into the cave, this one large and majestic with tufted ears that stood out on either side of its head. The new owl also had a letter addressed to Harry gripped in its claws, this one appropriately labeled with his adopted name on the envelope.

Before he could even relieve this new owl of its burden; six more owls, two nearly identical to the first wounded owl and the other four completely different than the others, joined the pair of birds around Harry. Ash just sat back and watched (while secretly laughing at his son's predicament) as Harry tried to retrieve the letters from all seven of the newly arrived owls, who kept jostling each other out of the way so that their letter could be taken first. Eventually, Harry managed to free all of them of their deliveries before they became too violent, though he had received numerous scratches on his hands and arms for his efforts. He treated the healthy owls to a slice of berry each and watched as all but one of the newly arrived owls took off into the night.

Shaking his head at the odd behavior of the owls, he spread the letters in his hand out on the table in an effort to determine who each of them were from and which one should be opened first. Two of the letters were from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – both addressed to his birth name. He set those two aside with the first tattered letter from the same school and focused on the others; two of which were addressed to his adopted name (one of them a fourth letter with the Hogwarts crest splashed on the back) and the final three were addressed to both him and his father.

Harry handed the ones addressed to both of them to Ash, so his father could read those. He then randomly selected one of his own letters from those that were properly addressed to his adopted name and ripped the envelope open. The letter inside turned out to be a letter of welcome from one of the professors at Hogwarts.

_Dear Mr. Ketchum,_

_We would like to formerly welcome you to Great Britain's Wizarding World and we  
>would like to thank you for the interest you expressed in attending Hogwarts School<br>of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We are happy to inform you that your application,  
>which you submitted through Gringotts, has been approved. Enclosed you will find<br>a copy of the First Year book list in addition to a list of materials that you will be  
>required to purchase for the upcoming school term. <em>

_In order to facilitate your integration into our society, we have arranged for Professor  
>Pomona Sprout to meet with you on Thursday, August 15, 1991 at 2:15 pm on the steps<br>of Gringotts. Professor Sprout will then give you a short tour of Diagon Alley and help  
>you to purchase your student supplies. <em>

_If you have any questions, please feel free to owl them to us here at Hogwarts. _

_Sincerely, _

_Professor Minerva McGonagall  
>Deputy Headmistress <em>

Harry glanced briefly at the enclosed list of books and supplies and could only shake his head at some of the archaic items he was required to purchase; things like cauldrons, crystal vials, robes, quills, and pointed hats. Shrugging his shoulders, he shoved the letter and the list back into the envelope and passed it over to his father without a word – Ash would need to know about their appointment with Professor Sprout.

He opened the other letter addressed with his adopted name and simply found a confirmation letter from Professor Sprout reminding him of their scheduled meeting on the fifteenth of August. Included in the letter was a six inch section of dried vine that the professor explained was a timed portkey that would deposit them on the steps of the bank approximately fifteen minutes before their appointment. Knowing this might be their only method of getting back to London on the prearranged meeting date, Harry tucked both letter and vine into the first aide kit where it would be safe.

Seeing that Ash was still occupied with the other letters, Harry randomly selected one of the Hogwarts Letters that were addressed to his birth name. He quickly discovered that the letter was actually not that much different than the one Professor McGonagall had sent addressed to his adopted name, other than the fact that no meeting with a professor had been scheduled and that the letter was dated nearly two weeks prior to their arrival in this world. That meant that he had been accepted to Hogwarts prior to returning to the world and that someone had known he'd once lived at the Dursleys. All three of the Hogwarts letters addressed to Harry Potter each listed a different address on the front of the envelope, the battered letter had his cupboard under the stairs listed, the second one indicated the smallest bedroom at Number Four Privet Drive, and the final letter, the one he'd opened, was addressed to some hotel somewhere down in England.

"Someone tried to claim one of your vaults the other day, right after we left the bank with the goblins," Ash declared, shaking Harry out of his contemplations of the different addresses.

"Huh? What? Who would do that?"

"Yes, the goblins sent us a missive informing us that someone had attempted to… how did they put it? Ah here it is… 'an individual claiming to represent Mr. Potter fraudulently requested to make a withdrawal from trust vault number six-forty-seven'. Apparently nobody was arrested because it was the first offense but they wanted us to know in case someone out there is trying to claim your identity as Harry Potter."

"There must be, as some of these letters were addressed to me as 'Potter' and they each have a different address on them. But the only one of those addresses I truly lived at was the cupboard under the stairs; my aunt and uncle never would have allowed me to live in one of the extra bedrooms and they would have never taken me anywhere else," Harry hypothesized as he passed the three envelopes addressed to 'Potter' over to his dad. "What should we do about it?"

"Nothing right now, we don't know enough about what is going on in the magical world to know who we could trust."

"So, we research and keep an eye out for this imposter?"

"Exactly, Sport," Ash confirmed as he reached out and ruffled Harry's hair, much to the young man's chagrin. "The goblins also recommended that we find a way to disguise your appearance as we'd discussed with Ragnok before we left the bank. They said your messy hair and green eyes are two of the three traits used to identify you as Harry Potter. The third trait is a lightning bolt scar but that faded a long time ago – after our first visit to Hypno. How would you feel about going blond with blue eyes?"

"Blonde? You have got to be kidding me… blonde? Please, I'd rather go with a dark brown, since it would be closer to natural. And I don't know about blue for eye color. Brown would hide the green better don't you think?"

"What's wrong with blonde hair? I'll agree with you though about brown hiding your green eyes better but I think a blue-green or hazel might work just as easily. We'll have to find an eye doctor and make an appointment to have your eyes checked, I'm sure they have colored contacts you can use – you can even get a couple of different colors to try if you'd like. Hair color is going to be pretty difficult though since your hair is naturally so dark; maybe going with a dark auburn?"

"So long as it isn't bright red or worse, flame orange, I think the auburn might work," Harry grudgingly admitted. "We should take care of both those things before we meet with that Professor Sprout person though, that way there isn't a chance she could recognize me."

"The goblins sent us portkey to a small magical community right outside of a place called Aberdeen. Ragnok provided the name of a small shop there that would be able to help us with your disguise.H We can go tomorrow."

"What else did the goblins have to say?"

"They've put together a list of prospective houses for us; pictures included, and gave us the name of a realtor to contact in regards to viewing the different houses. What do you think of these?"

"I don't know. They're all okay, I guess. But the yards seem kind of small and cramped for the Pokémon. Why can't we stay here? There's plenty of wide open space, there's the two rivers and the loch for the water Pokémon to swim in, and we can always build a small cottage or house either down by the loch or somewhere near to the caverns," Harry said as he briefly flipped through the various images of houses. "Plus, according to the goblins we already own this land."

"There is that," Ash agreed. "Do you really want to live so far out in the middle of nowhere though?"

"Well, we've always spent most of our time traveling, so it's not really that big of a deal. But you're the one who would be stuck here alone for months on end – if only because I'll be at Hogwarts most of the time. Unless I can make us a door back home from here, then you can travel back and forth at will while I'm at school."

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, in the mean time," Ash countered, "we need to think about how were going to get supplies when we run out, especially if we end up staying here."

"Magical transportation? The portkeys seem to work alright, even if they make me sick. Maybe… I don't know… there has to be something."

"Magic can't solve all of our problems and it's best not to rely upon something neither of us really knows how to perform anyway," Ash chided gently. "But that doesn't mean it isn't something to consider down the line, once you've learned what you need to learn whatever it is you need to learn at this Hogwash School of Magicians. Unless, of course, the goblins could be persuaded to provide us with something a little more permanent."

"Hogwarts…" Harry snickered as he flicked a balled up scrap of parchment at his dad.

"Silly name either way," Ash shot back as he caught Harry's neck in a head lock and gave him a noogie. "Why don't you clean up for the night and get some rest? We can take care of your disguise tomorrow and find a way to send off a reply to confirm your appointment with this Sprout person when we get back."

"You think that maybe that's why the other owl stuck around? To send out any replies we had? If I recall rightly it had carried one of the letters from Hogwarts."

"Possibly, only way to find out is to try. Here, this letter has a few inches of blank parchment you can tear off and use to reply."

Harry scribbled off a short, but polite, acknowledgement on the scrap of parchment before rolling the parchment up tightly and tying it to the leg of the waiting owl, which had approached him the moment he finished writing the short letter. Feeling a little skeptical about the bird's ability to comprehend, Harry told the bird the message was a reply to Professor Sprout. He was used to some trainers teaching their bird Pokémon to carry mail and deliver packages but as far as he knew the Pokémon were far more intelligent then the seemingly normal birds of this world. Then again, maybe magic made the birds smarter… In any event, the owl gave a soft hoot before launching itself out of the cave on silent wings.

Harry watched it disappear into the night sky, before checking on the injured owl that was currently sleeping on the makeshift nest he'd made for it. After making sure there was food and water nearby for the convalescing owl, he bid his father goodnight and slipped off to wash up outside by the river. He spent a few minutes of time with his Pokémon while he was outside, the numerous creatures each seeking comfort and reassurance in the face of the strangeness of this world, before changing into a clean pair of pajamas and climbing into his sleeping bag.

In a matter of seconds Harry was surrounded on all sides by the former eevee litter (only two of the cat-like foxes were still in their original evolutionary forms), Trickster, Dave, and the trapinch. Dancer and Splash had both opted to stay outside, the water dragon happily chasing fish up and down the river while the fire pony nibbled on the wild grasses and enjoyed the chance to stretch her legs.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Just a few notes…_

_First, I wanted to say thank you to all my readers; the responses I've received already have been much appreciated and I am thrilled that so many of you have enjoyed the first chapter. =)_

_Second, some of you have expressed concern about the amount of bashing that will occur… I have really tried to keep the actual bashing to a minimum and while I do bash the twins and Hermione, they will NOT be bashed constantly and endlessly. They won't actually play a big part in the story and at one point they will no longer be bashed but you have to remember that Harry is seventeen in this story and is therefore far more mature than all of the other supporting/main characters of the series and his opinions of them will reflect that maturity. The two characters that will be bashed the most will be Ron and Ginny and even then it is more on their immaturity than it is an attack on them personally. I hope that clears it up for those of you that were concerned. I'm not a huge fan of excessive bashing unless it's in the name of humor or parody (or of a character I don't like much) and even then I don't write much of it myself._

**12-26-12:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	3. The Illusion of a New Face

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 3: The Illusion of a New Face<span>_

_Thursday Morning, August 08, 1991  
>Potter Property, Northern Highlands<br>Scotland_

The next morning, Harry was forced to firmly order all of his Pokémon to stay inside of the cave. The entire group of twelve creatures, not counting the currently missing unown, had made it clear they wanted nothing more than to go with the two humans. However, knowing that their strange appearance would draw far too much attention, it was decided that all of the Pokémon would remain behind. This naturally upset Harry's Pokémon to no end and displeased Pikachu as well; though the older Pokémon was more accepting of the order. The tamed animals had grown attached to Harry during the many years they had each spent by his side and, other than the odd day-trip every now and then, none of them had been out of Harry's sight for more than a couple of hours at a time (not counting the ones that had stayed behind during the trip to the volcano when Trickster evolved from vulpix into ninetales).

By the time Harry had finally convinced the unruly group to behave, it was well past mid-morning. Grumbling halfheartedly at the wasted hours, Harry eventually joined Ash a short distance away from the cave where the older man was waiting with the portkey provided by the goblins. Grabbing hold of one end of the long silver chain that was their transportation, Harry had just enough time to glance back over his shoulder towards the cave before Ash activated the portkey with the pass code given to him in the letter. As the feeling of being lifted up through his stomach latched hold of him for the second time, Harry felt a small weight barrel into him from behind.

The instant his feet touched down at their destination, Harry ended up unceremoniously sprawled on his face with a small weight seated in the middle of his back. The moment the weight disappeared, he turned his head to the side and discovered that the tiny eevee female, one of the two who had not yet evolved, had latched onto his jacket at the last possible minute. The sneaky little cat-fox knew it was in trouble the minute she trotted around to nervously nose at his face.

"I have half a mind to name you Trouble," Harry growled without any heat as he rolled his eyes at the hang-dog look the young female eevee was giving him. "If it didn't sound too much like a boy's name anyway…"

"You could always name her Quandary or Dilemma instead," Ash quipped with a soft laugh as he gave Harry a hand up. "Both of those are close enough to trouble and feminine enough sounding to suit the little lady."

"I think Dilemma fits her best and I can call her Emma or Dilly for short," Harry considered as he lifted the sulking Pokémon up into his arms. "She'll fit right in with Trickster and Jester at any rate."

"You won't hear me contradicting you on that account. Come on, might as well tuck her inside your jacket and try and pass her off as a cat while we see about getting you fixed up."

Harry quickly did as asked while he glanced around the brick enclosed courtyard they'd landed in. The walls were at least fifteen feet high, effectively blocking off the small yard from any neighbors. The ground was covered with low cut grass that felt spongy underneath his feet that provided a somewhat soft landing for those traveling by portkey. At the edge of the east wall, there was a single white painted door leading out of the courtyard. Seeing no other way out of the area they found themselves in, the two men headed towards the door cautiously. Nervously stepping up to the door, Harry knocked timidly before trying the handle. He was a bit surprised to find the door unlocked but figured they were probably expected. Ash clapped him on the back to let him know he was there and together the two of them pushed open the door and entered.

Or rather, exited the courtyard. On the other side of the door they found a bustling, if small, open air market filled with old fashioned market stalls. The only permanent building in sight was the one that housed the courtyard in which they'd arrived. Pulling his hat down over his head to better hide his face, Harry took in the numerous young children running up and down the pathways in between the booths, the harried adults haggling over prices with the various venders, and the occasional couple strolling calmly around groups of laughing children. It reminded the young man vividly of some of the outdoor markets he'd visited with his father during their travels through the different regions over the years.

The majority of the stalls sold handmade items, magic-crafted devices, or home grown produce; such as clothing, rugs, jewelry, wooden statues, woven baskets, potion ingredients, herbs, vegetables, fruits, breads, or pastries. There were also more than a few that offered services such as healing, fortune telling, or mending. Around the outer edges of the market there were even a few stalls that discretely advertised less than legal services; such as illicit potions, government regulated goods, and counterfeit documents.

By unspoken agreement, Ash and Harry avoided the shadier stalls as they wandered through the well beaten paths between booths. After about fifteen minutes of walking, the two men finally located the stall advertising beautification charms (the place the goblins had suggested they go for Harry's disguise). On the posters hanging outside the enclosed booth, there were pictures of drab looking women that repeatedly morphed into stunning models, young children whose hair cycled through ever cut and style imaginable (and some not quite so imaginable), men with varying degrees of facial hair, and a few pictures of hands and feet appearing to undergo manicures or pedicures.

Knowing a disguise was inevitable (if he didn't want to be recognized); Harry sighed and stepped through the curtain covering the entrance to the booth. Expecting to find himself inside a cramped room, he was quite shocked to suddenly find himself inside what looked like a state of the art, air-conditioned beauty salon. He ducked his head back out the doorway, just to make certain he wasn't imagining things, and was shocked to discover that the outside of the building still looked like a tiny little wooden stall with curtains over it.

"Can I help you, sonny?" A creaky old voice demanded.

Harry pulled his head back inside the strange building and blushed as he stared down at the diminutive figure wearing a white dress shirt, black slacks, and a bright pink half apron wrapped around his waist that was staring up at him with a frown. Ash chuckled and gently pushed Harry further into the shop so he could step inside as Harry gave the short man a sheepish smile as he stuttered out that he was looking to add a touch of color to his hair.

To his shock, the shorter man grinned manically, pulled a step ladder out of his apron pocket, climbed onto the ladder, and proceeded to examine his hair by small locks. "I do hope you aren't considering going blonde? Your hair is far too dark and unruly to hold such frivolities. I'd suggest leaving it black and maybe dying the tips a nice bright purple."

"Er… actually I was hoping for something along the lines of a dark, very dark, auburn or maybe a medium brown," Harry countered with only a slight hesitation over the initial recommendation of purple after tossing his father a smug look at the short man's comment about blonde hair.

"Excellent! Though you do realize that the color red will clash with your eyes right? I mean really, you don't want to go looking around like a Christmas tree do you?"

"Well… I was um… er… planning on getting color changing contacts so that my… uh… hair didn't um clash," Harry explained as he did his best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of the man tugging and pulling on various bits of hair.

"That would make you look less like the Boy-Who-Lived then, wouldn't it?" the man slyly asked as he gave a particularly sharp tug on a bit of hair on the back of Harry's neck.

"Huh-wha?" Harry gasped out as stumbled away from the tiny man on the step ladder, his eyes watering slightly over the stinging sensation that lingered.

"Not to worry, my cousins warned me to be expecting you," the man airily announced as he climbed down off the step ladder and tucked it back into his apron pocket. "Come. We must wash and condition your hair properly if the coloring is to hold to the roots for any decent length of time."

Harry passed the little eevee over to his father before he let the shorter man lead him back to a row of ugly green sinks that were fixed barely two and a half feet above the ground with floating lounge-like chairs (of an equally ugly and clashing orange) hovering just under the lip of the sink. The teen was led to a sink somewhere in the middle of the line up and told to lie down in the chair with his head hanging over the sink. Once situated, a large pink bubble encased both the sink and his head (minus his face and ears) and a hundred jets of hot water began massaging his scalp. It was a relaxing sensation and in a matter of seconds Harry had fallen asleep where he lay.

Sometime later Harry was shaken awake by the grinning man in the pink apron and he felt disoriented as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. His head felt like it weighed twice as much as it normally did while his body acted as if he'd taken a slight overdose of muscle relaxers. After a few minutes the weird sensations faded though and Harry was able to climb to his feet and follow the hairdresser (or was he a barber because he was a man?) to one of the beauty stations. These beauty stations, like the sinks, were close to the ground – the mirrors reaching from the floor up to a height of about four feet and the client chair barely hovering off the ground over what looked like a large hole.

A snap of the finger caused the chair to hover closer to Harry as the man ordered him to have a seat. Leery of the gaping pit just inches away from his feet, Harry timidly climbed into chair and grasped the arm rests tightly as the chair hopped back into its original position. From up out of the hole beneath his feet, another pink bubble encapsulated both Harry and the chair all the way up to his neck as the chair sank about two feet into the pit. This brought the top of his head to a level that was about chest high to the man that had been attending him.

Glancing in the mirror in order to avoid thinking about the uncomfortable sensation of being trapped inside the floor and the bubble, Harry was surprised to see his head, or rather his hair, encased in hardened foam an eye-blinding lime green in color. As he watched, the tiny man fluttered around him as he tapped the green casing on his head with what looked like a wooden carving of a pair of scissors. With each tap, a flutter of tiny red sparks would shoot out of the tip of the fake scissors and blast off a tiny chunk of the hardened foam.

When the last piece of foam disappeared into the pit beneath him, Harry's hair poofed out much like a cartoon dog's fur would after a bath. Each strand of hair stood out perfectly straight from his head in perfect order. It had to be magic, because nothing Harry had ever done on his own to his hair had ever produced such an odd effect. Next the man began brushing the carved scissors over the ends of Harry's hair, each pass shearing off about an eighth of an inch. Once all the ends were trimmed, the man repeated the process of the sides of Harry's hair, shortening them by a good inch, inch and a half. All the cut bits of Harry's hair fluttered down onto the bubble that encased him where they promptly vanished.

"Now, this next bit might sting just a touch," the barber (who was considerably more than just a barber) announced as the wooden scissors vanished into the apron pocket and a long syringe filled with gray goo was pulled out. "I'll be injecting the color potion just under the scalp; it's the only way to insure your roots don't grow out in their natural color. It'll feel more than a touch odd as the potion flows under your skin but once it's in place you'll forget all about it."

As if sensing his trepidation, wide belts of magically reinforced nylon slithered up from the underside of the chair and securely strapped Harry into his seat in order to prevent him from squirming. Harry eyes bugged out a bit as the man then plunged the needle of the syringe into the back of his neck, just under his hair line. He felt a sharp pinch, like a bug bite, and then a crawling sensation as the man injected the gray goop under his skin. When that one was emptied; the man tucked it away and pull out another from his endless pockets and repeated the process in several more times.

Five additional times he felt the piecing bite of the needle and the creeping sensation of movement under his scalp, once from just behind each ear, once just above and in front of each temple, and the final time right in the middle of the top of his head. Next, the man brought out two smaller syringes and performed the same treatment along each of his eyebrows, plunging the needle in at an angle at the outer most edges. By this time Harry was practically hyperventilating and half expecting his accidental magic to blast the man halfway across the shop.

"Do you plan on growing any facial hair? Aside from your brows?"

"Hssss…." Harry hissed out incomprehensibly through his growing anxiety as he glared at the diminutive man through the mirror.

"Hmm, well… since you are unsure, I better layer your jaw and upper lip with the potion as well, that way if you do end up growing a beard and or mustache, it will match your brows and hair naturally." Even before the words were out of his mouth, the sadistic barber was plunging the tip of yet another syringe into the flesh above Harry's mouth.

After another three additional doses; one under his chin and one on either side of his face at the back of his jaw, the short man declared the process complete. Harry was thankful at this point because his entire head and face felt numb with the skin pulled extra tight. The teen practically jumped then, when the man wrapped his head, face, and neck in a slightly hotter than tolerable wet towel. Within seconds though, the towel cooled to a comfortable level and the tight feeling under his skin slowly faded as the numbness vanished. Sighing in relief, Harry allowed himself to relax back into the chair as the straps that had previously held him in place slowly released their hold and vanished back to wherever they came from.

When the towel came off, Harry opened his eyes to find the man smiling at him in the mirror. Harry gave a tentative smile in return (now that he was no longer freaking out about the needles and the crawling sensation beneath his skin) and watched as the mirror image of himself split into two. The hair of the image on the left began slowly cycling through several shades of red while the one on the right remained untouched.

"Watch the one on the left and let me know when you see one you like."

Eventually, Harry found a combination that worked well with his natural coloring and his chosen colors. The coloration used his natural black color as a base, adding in random strands of dark red and medium to dark browns so that his hair actually changed color depending on the light. It was different enough that it didn't look anything like his normal solid black hair but natural looking enough that it would be difficult for anyone to tell that his hair had been died.

Once the color was decided, the small man swirled the chair around so that Harry could no longer see his reflection and tipped the chair back so that he was looking up at the ceiling. Small opaque bubble like goggles were then placed over his eyes (after his glasses were removed with the help of the small man) while two blue bubbles formed over his mouth and nose – leaving free the skin above and below his lips. Harry didn't even have time to panic as the odd bubbles sealed off his breathing because he continued to breathe easily through the bubbles. His entire face and head were then submerged in some kind of solution that felt ice cold.

By the time the concoction was cleaned off, some twenty minutes later, Harry's entire body was shivering from the long exposure to the goop on his face. If he had been able to see his reflection in the mirror, Harry would have seen his face was tinged blue and covered in frost. His discomfort was quickly eased though by the return of a warm towel that was draped over his face while the man massaged his scalp with his fingers. A sigh of content escaped Harry's lips as the temperature of his face slowly rose back to normal. Not long after that, the towel was removed to reveal the grinning man standing over Harry's face once more.

"Almost done with your hair now, sonny," the man gleefully announced. "I just have to set the colors and lock the charms in place. Did you want me to take care of the blemish on your forehead and eye color while you're here?"

"Blemish? You mean my… uh… scar? And what can you do about my eyes? I was planning on using muggle contacts so I didn't have to wear glasses any longer."

"Yes, your scar, it's faded enough that I can remove it completely with a touch of Scar Remover without damaging the surrounding skin. And while you'd have to see a healer to correct your vision problems, I can permanently change the color of your eyes with a special potion I created years ago. It's similar to the potions I use to change the color of your hair, in fact."

"Dad? What do you think?" Harry asked fairly loudly, knowing his father was somewhere nearby.

"It's up to you," Ash replied from the other side of the large room. "It would be less of a hassle than dealing with contacts but a bit harder to change them back to their original color I'd imagine."

"Would it be difficult to change them back?" Harry asked with a frown as he thought about never seeing his eyes (or hair) their natural color again.

"Not exactly, I can provide you the antidote to the potion in addition to the color changing potion so you can change back and forth at will. It will be extra though, because those potions are frightfully difficult to make and the ingredients aren't cheep. The hair is there to stay for the next five years though, unless you come back to me to die it another color. Even getting it back to the original plain and boring black would require me to repeat the entire process if you want it changed before the potion naturally degrades."

"Oh, I guess that's alright about the hair. I like the color I chose and it looked good on my reflection. Um… I guess I'll go with the Scar Remover and the eye color change but I'd like to have the counter potion so I can change them back to their normal color if… when I go home to visit my grandma and my friends."

"Perfect, just give me a few minutes to set your hair color and we'll take care of those for you."

After a few more potions were rubbed into his scalp, eyebrows, and face along where his beard and mustache would grow if he ever grew facial hair, the little man removed the bubbles over his eyes and face and placed several drops of a pinkish-green potion into Harry's eyes and tapped each eye with a skinny stick that looked like a shortened pointer. Harry would later learn the stick was a wand but for the moment he was too caught up in the buzzing sensation the potion caused in his eyes as it did whatever it was supposed to do to change the color of his eyes from a bright emerald green to a nondescript brownish hazel.

While that was happening, the minuscule man began rubbing what felt like sandpaper across the skin of his forehead where Harry's thunderbolt scar sat. Next, a liquid fire was spread over the area and covered with a thick piece of gauze. Around that time the mixture in his hair was removed and he was told to blink his eyelids rapidly while the man poured a gentle stream of water into his eyes from out of the pointer stick. After that was done, the tiny barber sat Harry's chair back into an upright position before pulling the gauze off with a sharp tug that felt slightly worse than removing a band aide.

When he showed the used gauze to Harry, the teen could see what remained of his scar and surrounding skin sitting in the middle of some yellowish crud on the gauze. That made him feel a bit sick to his stomach, at least until the man swung the chair around to face the mirror once more and Harry got a good look at his reflection.

With his new hair and eye color, Harry looked like a completely different person. Even the unruliness of his locks had been tamed by whatever the tiny man had done to his hair, as it now lay fairly neatly (if not flatly) against his skull; the sides shorter than the top which was neatly parted down the center. Even with his glasses back on, he looked noticeably different then he had before – the proof was in the split image of his reflection that showed his original looks beside his new look.

"Perfect," Harry stated as he leaned forward and studied the unblemished skin where his scar used to lay.

"If you'll step off the chair, sonny," the magical barber commanded in a kind voice. "We'll settle your bill and get you your potion supply for your eye color."

The total came out to ninety-two galleons (for the hair treatment, hair color, facial hair coloring, eye coloring, scar removal, and extra eye coloring potion and antidote) plus an additional two galleon tip. The two vials of potion he was given had enough of each potion in them to restore and change his eye color ten times before he'd need to return for a refill on both potions. Dilemma, who was passed back to Harry once he was finished, seemed a bit startled when she got a look at him once they left the beauty salon but she soon relaxed when she recognized his scent.

The rest of the morning (what little of it remained) and part of the afternoon was spent wandering up and down the aisles looking at the various trinkets and gadgets that were for sale. Around lunch time, the pair of them grabbed a few savory pastry type pies filled with beef, carrots, onions, and potatoes that they ate while walking around. As they wandered through the market, Ash purchased various fresh fruits and vegetables along with a few loaves of bread while Harry purchased an over the shoulder dragon hide book bag that was charmed to be feather-light with an expansion charm on the inside, several yards of tanned leather, a couple spools of enchanted heavy duty threads for leather working, and a set of magical leather working tools that were charmed to be self sharpening and unbreakable.

Harry then spent a good twenty minutes discussing the applications of an expansion charm with the stall owner on various materials. He came away from that conversation with the name of a book that had incantations and information on the expansion charm and other useful every day charms. All too soon, the two men were obligated to head back to the courtyard, where they'd been instructed to return in order to use their portkey to get back to their campsite. Instructions in the letter from the goblins stated that the portkey could be used to return to the small market place as many times as needed until the first of September, when they would be required to return the silver chain to the goblins – unless they opted to purchase the portkey for a thousand galleons.

Upon arriving back at the Potter Property in the Highlands, Harry was tackled by his remaining Pokémon. The creatures had apparently missed him so much they didn't even register the change in his looks as they took turns snuggling with him or licking his face and neck.

* * *

><p><strong>12-26-12:<strong>_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	4. Plotting out a New Home

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 4: <span>__Plotting out a New Home_

_August 08, 1991 to August 14, 1991  
>Potter Property, Northern Highlands<br>Scotland_

The week between Harry's disguise implantation and his appointment with the professor from his new school passed relatively quickly as he and his father Portkeyed between the highlands and various houses in scattered counties across England and Wales. Towards the end of the list of available homes they were viewing, the two men found a quaint little townhouse in Greater London that appealed to them as an alternate home if living in the highlands proved to be too much of imposition. The town house was located at Number Eight Stedham Place, midway between Kings Cross Station (where he would be required to board the Hogwarts Express in order to get to school on the first) and the Leaky Cauldron (which housed the entrance to Diagon Alley) on Charing Cross Road.

It was a three story Victorian style home (not including the basement and attic) with a small yard and a two car garage. Located in an entirely muggle neighborhood, the outside of the house was fairly nondescript (as were the rest of the houses on the street) and wired for electricity (a plus in Ash's and Harry's minds). There were a series of weak wards surrounding the property, such as a light muggle repelling ward to prevent the neighbors from paying too much attention to the occupants of the house, standard fire and insect repelling wards, and several interior space expansion charms on the garage so that there was more space available inside than there appeared to be from the outside. Both the garage and the basement were additionally warded to contain excessive magical emissions, according to the realtor, providing space and protection for performing safe magic in an all muggle neighborhood.

The ground floor of the town house consisted of a large formal dining room, a parlor, a half bath, the kitchen, and a rather large office. The first floor held a huge library (currently nothing but empty bookshelves) that took up just over half the floor, two smaller studies, another half bathroom, and a drawing room. The second floor was pretty much all bedrooms, with a large master suite of two interconnected bedrooms with a small parlor sandwiched in between them and two full bathrooms connected to either room. On the west side of the stairs directly across from the master suite was a smaller informal dining room which had two additional bedrooms on either side of it with a third bathroom at the western most end of the hallway. On the east side of the stairs, were four identical guest bedrooms, two on each side, with two smaller bathrooms separating the rooms from each other. At the end of that hallway was a rickety old staircase that led up into the attic.

The stairs to the basement could be found in the kitchen in addition to a door leading to the backyard and the only entrance to the expanded back section of the garage where the former owner had set up an extensive potion lab that was itself connected to a green house designed for growing magical plants. Unfortunately, all of the plants in the green house had died from neglect long before the house had been put up for sale. Both the main parlor down on the ground floor and the smaller parlor up in the master suite each had a huge fire place that was large enough to walk inside; both intended for easy travel through the Floo Network (not that the two world travelers knew that).

If not for the lack of any real yard out back and a natural pond or even just enough space to install a decent sized man-made pond, the house would have been perfect. Then again, because Harry had posed the possibility of building a home on the Highland property, it was possible that they could use the London house in conjunction with the Highland properties by way of a Floo connection (or so the realtor had hinted). A few discreet questions posed to the goblins confirmed this fact just a few days before their scheduled meeting with the Hogwarts staff member.

A dozen of the finest diamond squares from their stash of gemstones, the remaining ingots of stone containing the unprocessed gemstones, and an additional six hundred and thirty thousand gold galleons (from the Potter Family Vault) secured both the London townhouse and a contract to build a modest one floor cottage with both an attic and a basement in the Highlands. This would include ward upgrades on both properties in addition to making the new house in London unplottable by magical means. Thankfully, because they weren't saturating the new house in higher level wards, the electricity would still function once the wards were in place – except in the basement and the extended garage where the wards were considerably heavier to compensate for the expected magical discharges.

The cottage layout would be somewhat similar to the cottage that Ash had purchased in Viridian City shortly after adopting Harry. There would be two bedrooms, an office, two full bathrooms, a kitchen slash dining room, and a living room on the ground floor with an added addition of an attic and a basement. Half of the attic would then be converted into a library with a small sun room tucked into the eastern corner and the other half of the attic set aside for storage. The basement on the other hand was intended to be a magical research center where Harry could study and practice magic undisturbed.

The walls of the basement would be made up of steel supports covered by two feet of concrete that would be magically reinforced with an anti-erosion ward, a moisture dispelling ward, an insect and pest repelling ward, as well as several strengthening and magic absorbing charms. The floor would be made up of two foot by two foot sections of three inch thick slate set over reinforced steel panels and in addition to holding the same wards and charms as the walls and would be given a cushioning and stabilizing charm to prevent accidents and minimize injuries due to falls.

Once the basic structure of the basement was in place, the area would be divided into several smaller sections. Each section would then be customized with a specific branch of magic in mind; a small potions lab, a small magical library, a dueling or training room, an ingredient preparation room (where potions ingredients could be processed safely), an underground green house (for growing potion ingredients), a small storage room for miscellaneous magical devices, and a couple of extra rooms that could later be dedicated to specific projects.

The house itself was to be built near to the caverns where Ash and Harry had previously set up their more permanent camp. This would allow them to use the system of caves for additional space and as a rather rustic stable for the Pokémon during inclement weather. To make the caverns more comfortable and secure, wooden stalls would be built along one side of the main cave and given the basic housing wards to prevent natural decay or damage once the cottage had been built. The other two caverns could then be turned into additional storage space for food and bedding for the Pokémon. The entire system of caves would also receive temperature stabilizing charms in addition to insect and pest repellant wards.

In addition to the new house, twenty green houses (not counting the one that would be created in the basement) would be constructed about a mile away from the house, staggered on the mountain slope near where they arrived that first time by portkey. All twenty of the green houses would be totally magical constructions in that while they would each resemble small glass sheds on the outside they would be magically expanded on the inside with the climate being controlled by a combination of charms, wards, and runes.

The first fifteen of the green houses were intended for large crops such as grasses, grains, and orchards; each one of them dedicated to a specific climate or region and would have close to a hundred acres of expanded space inside. The remaining five green houses would be of a more modest size on the inside (containing no more than five square acres of growing space) for the more domestic crops such as vegetables, cooking herbs and spices, and an assortment of smaller fruits and berries such as strawberries and raspberries.

At first, when the plans had been presented to the goblins, the fierce creatures had been skeptical about the need for so much growing space within the green houses. It wasn't until Ash explained about the various seeds, bulbs, and cuttings that Harry had collected for the purpose of growing various crops from their home world that the goblins had grudgingly seen the need for such a large amount of specialized growing space above the extensive acreage that was already part of the property.

The goblins were actually greatly interested in some of the berry crops after they learned of their various general and specific healing properties (seemingly magical in nature). When asked how they would maintain the numerous green houses with so little manpower, Harry confessed that he intended for the larger fifteen greenhouses to eventually be self sustaining ecosystems that would basically take care of themselves. So long as the proper climate could be maintained within the individual greenhouse, it would be as if a small piece of that particular region had been transported from their world into this world.

The entire building project would take about eight months to complete, with the wards and charms being applied as they progressed. In the mean time, Ash and Harry would remain in the cavern where they had set up camp until it was time for Harry to go to Hogwarts, at which point they would move to the London home for a couple of days before Ash returned to the Highlands. Once the cottage had been built and a Floo connection established, they would be able to travel freely between the two houses. The goblins had mentioned something about permanent portals (something that had drawn Harry's immediate interest) as opposed to Floo travel but the details were still up in the air.

Needless to say, their accommodations for the duration of their stay in this world had been mostly secured; though Harry still would have preferred to go home.

* * *

><p><em>Thursday Afternoon, August 15, 1991<br>Outside Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley  
>London<em>_, England_

At eleven minutes before two o'clock the fifteenth of August, Ash and Harry found themselves once more on the steps of Gringotts. Harry was just picking himself up off the steps, as he'd once more fallen over shortly after landing, when a cheerful, plump witch dressed in brown and green robes approached him.

"Mr. Ketchum, I presume?" the witch inquired as she held out her hand.

"Yes," Harry replied somewhat nervously as he reflexively clasped her hand in return. "That would make you Professor Sprout, correct? This is my father, Ash Ketchum."

"Yes, precisely," Professor Sprout confirmed as she shook Ash's hand next. "It's a pleasure to meet you both. I trust you have been settling into your new home just fine?"

"Pleasure's all mine, Madam Sprout," Ash returned readily as he flashed his trademark, boyish grin at the older woman. "And we're settling in just fine though we still don't know where much of anything is – except for Gringotts."

"Ah, yes, finding your way around when you haven't grown up here can be a bit confusing; one of the many reasons why the staff of Hogwarts chooses to escort all new muggleborns through Diagon Alley prior to their first year at the school. Do you have any questions about the upcoming school year or the curriculum you will be expected to learn?"

"Can you explain a little bit about the different subjects?" Harry asked politely as they trio moved down off the stairs of the bank.

"Ah jumping right into the course work, I see. The core classes, which you are required to take for the first five years, are broken down into three basic types of classes. First, there are the wand based subjects; which include Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Next, are the passive practical classes that require a person's innate magic but use few, if any, actual spells; those classes are Potions, Herbology (which is the class I teach), and Flying Class (which is only offered for first years)."

"The final group of classes are strictly informational or theoretical in nature and those two classes are; Astronomy and History of Magic. In third year, you will have the option of adding one or more electives which include; Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, or Divination. The first three are considered passive practical classes and the latter two informational. You'll learn more about those at the end of your second year though."

"What about basic classes such as Math, English, Social Studies, Science, Economics, and Art?"

"I'm afraid we don't offer any muggle courses at Hogwarts; there just isn't enough time to fit them into the schedule and they have no practical application in our world."

"How do you expect the students to function out in the real world when they are finished with their magical education, if they don't have a grasp of basic academics?" Harry asked with a slight frown as he paused and glanced at the suddenly flustered professor.

"All of our students adjust to life outside of Hogwarts quite easily, the majority starting a wide variety of magical careers right out of school. Some careers obviously require a bit more schooling, such as Healers and Aurors, but on the whole you'll learn everything you need to know before you graduate."

"And if we don't wish to remain in the magical world? If we'd rather return home and pursue a job in the 'muggle' world?" Harry countered, feeling more then a touch uncomfortable by the idea that he'd have to stay in the magical world once he was finished with whatever it was he was needed to do in this world (if he couldn't return home).

"Ah… well… occasionally we do lose the odd muggleborn witch or wizard, every now and then, but on the whole magicals prefer to stay in our world. It's better that way, safer for all involved. Those that do leave are rarely ever heard from again, so I am personally unsure what measures (if any) they have taken to fit back into their rather boring lives in the muggle world," Professor Sprout hesitantly explained. "We at Hogwarts encourage all of our students to remain in the wizarding world, where they belong; where they can be a productive part of society."

Obviously uneasy with the way the conversation was going, the rotund professor turned the conversation over to the wonders of Diagon Alley, taking time to give a little background on each of the stores that lined the crooked street in addition to a few of the offshoot alleys that opened up onto the main shopping district (sternly warning both father and son to stay away from the shadier Knockturn Alley). Harry only listened to her with half an ear though, as he was pondering the message that he'd been given by the stout professor in regards to what the wizarding world expected of him and all of the other magical children attending Hogwarts once they'd finished their education.

Once the official tour was over, Professor Sprout escorted Harry and his father to the various stores where she proceeded to help him purchase his school supplies (not that he really needed the help).

The first stop was a magical leather shop that sold luggage; where he purchased a compact (but standard) school trunk with a moderate expansion charm placed on the inside to allow him plenty of room to store all of his clothes and equipment. The second shop they visited was Ollivander's Wand Shop where Harry ended up getting a fourteen inch long black oak wand with a core of dragon heart-string. Harry was exceptionally pleased to get away from the disturbing proprietor of the wand shop because the odd old man had given Harry the creeps the way he stared at him periodically – as if the man knew he was more than he appeared.

Next they entered a stationary store to buy six, twenty foot by one foot rolls of medium grade parchment, a package of no leak quills, three vials of different colored ink (black, red, and blue), a box of fifty owl grade envelopes, and a standard seal kit for sending letters. Their next stop was the apothecary to pick up his potion equipment; which included a set of crystal vials, a set of brass scales, a ceramic pestle and mortar, a silver potion knife, a scalpel, a three piece scissor set, a pair of dragon hide gloves, and a first year supply kit of common potion ingredients.

After that they visited the cauldron shop to pick up a number two pewter cauldron before heading over to a store that sold magical devices to pick up a telescope. They took a short break at that point and entered the Leaky Cauldron where Professor Sprout ordered them a light tea with roast turkey sandwiches, homemade chips, and biscuits. Harry was somewhat startled when their food arrived and plates of sandwiches, fries, and cookies were delivered to the table with a large pot of steaming tea. Though after a few seconds he recalled that in this world the people sometimes used different words for different things – something he'd have to keep that in mind or he was going to be completely lost in no time at all.

When they finished with the small meal, they headed back out into the Alley where they promptly visited a book store by the name of Flourish and Blotts. After helping him locate the standard first year books, Professor Sprout allowed Harry and Ash a few minutes to browse the shelves to see if there was anything else they wanted to get. Also, on her recommendation, they picked up; _Hogwarts, A History_, _The Muggleborn's Guide to Wizarding Etiquette_,and _The Hidden Secrets and Short Cuts to Perfect Spell Casting_.

Seeing Harry pick up _The Wizard's Handbook of Handy Spells_ and a copy of _The Definitive Encyclopedia of Potion Ingredients and their Magical Properties_, Professor Sprout gave a token protest that the two books were far too advanced for a first year but Harry simply stated someone he knew had recommended the handbook to him earlier in the summer and the second book sounded far too useful to not buy. He also picked up a rather battered and faded copy of _Magical Sentient; A Compendium of Magical Beings_, so he could learn more about the various humanoids that inhabited this hidden world. At that point Harry paid for all of his books (and a few that Ash had picked out as well) and the small group headed to their last stop of the day, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where he was fitted for his Hogwarts uniform.

By the time he paid for his new robes, cloak, and hat, it was well after five o'clock and most of the stores in Diagon Alley were closing up for the night. Harry and Ash bid Professor Sprout a good evening after thanking her for her time and watched as the stout professor took her leave. The two men then spent a few minutes wandering up and down the Alley window shopping before their appointment at Gringotts (they were making arrangements to purchase the reusable round-trip portkey to the market in Aberdeen, a second one that would carry them between the Highlands and Gringotts as needed, and a third to carry them between the Highlands and their London home). As they passed Eeylops Owl Emporium, a young owl soared out of the open door and attached itself to Harry's shoulder as it screeched back at the red faced wizard that had followed it out of the store.

"A bloody menace that bird is! You best watch it kid, that damned owl will take your ear off and rip the skin from your shoulder! Best just hand him back here now."

Before Harry could even open his mouth or step close enough for the store keeper to recapture the recalcitrant bird, the owl in question began flapping its wings wildly as it screeched out a series of _ki ki ki_'s that sounded more like the scream of a hunting hawk. The storekeeper actually jumped back nervously as the bird appeared as if it was prepared to launch an attack on the man

"You know what, I give up… the stupid thing obviously isn't worth the galleons I fronted to purchase his egg. Can't say his siblings were as bad as that demon! Keep the damned bird; I'm better off shut of the nuisance!" The shop keeper growled out as he stormed back into his store and slammed the door shut.

Blinking owlishly at the bird still firmly attached to both his shirt and his shoulder, Harry tried to comprehend what had just happened. Beside him, his dad started chuckling, softly at first while gradually growing louder until the older man was giving out a deep belly laugh that practically echoed down the Alley.

"Only you, son, only you," Ash gasped out as he dropped a hand on Harry's unoccupied shoulder to steady himself as he kept laughing. "Why is it you always manage to obtain critters in the most unusual of circumstances? I wonder… do you have a magical beacon attached to you somewhere that proclaims you as the animals' long lost sovereign? Or possibly one that states that you're a sucker for a fuzzy or feathery face?"

"Ha, ha, ha," Harry sarcastically replied as he attempted to remove the talons that were currently drawing blood from his shoulder. "Instead of giving passers by a free showing of your obviously unstable sanity, can you give me a hand? I'm bleeding all over the pavement, in case you haven't noticed, and you're doing nothing but laughing."

"Bleeding? Ah, your new friend has quite a grip there I see," Ash needlessly pointed out as he immediately sobered at the thought of Harry being injured. "Have you… um… tried asking him to relax a touch?"

Before Harry could even voice a response, the owl released his grip and climbed across the back of his neck to reach his uninjured shoulder where it settled in with a considerably less damaging grip balanced on the strap of Harry's small day pack he was wearing over that shoulder. After giving the odd bird a weak thanks, Harry pulled down his ruined shirt to get a look at the puncture wounds and scratches that now decorated both sides of his shoulder.

"We'll need to clean those out soon, so they don't get infected," Ash observed as he gently prodded the still bleeding injuries. "Let's cut our wandering short and head on back to Gringotts, the goblins may be able to help us sort matters out. Before we go though, hand me three of them large gold coins, I'll slip them under the poor shop keeper's door with a short note so he can't later say we stole the bird."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _For those who are wondering what is to become of the Pokémon while Harry is at Hogwarts, it will come up in the next two chapters. We'll also get another look at what is happening with the Flamels soon. =)_

_Notes on the extra books purchased…_

_Hogwarts, A History_, _is obviously a canon book. It has also made appearances in ninety percent of the FanFiction stories I have read. __The Muggleborn's Guide to Wizarding Etiquette_,_The Definitive Encyclopedia of Potion Ingredients and their Magical Properties_,_The Hidden Secrets and Short Cuts to Perfect Spell Casting_, _The Wizard's Handbook of Handy Spells_,_ and_ _Magical Sentient; A Compendium of Magical Species__ are on the other hand non-canon books that I made up strictly for this story (and a few other stories I've written or am in the process of writing). _

_Some of them (The Muggleborn's Guide, the Hidden Secrets book, and the Handbook especially) will figure heavily in this story and may have excepts quoted in later chapters while others are simply there as a plot device to later explain some of Harry and Ash's knowledge of the wizarding world. _

**12-26-12:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	5. Summer's End

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 5: Summer's End<span>_

_Thursday Evening, August 15, 1991  
>Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley<br>London, England_

After spending five minutes trying to get the shopkeeper to open the door and another two trying to shove the money under the locked and sealed door of the owl store, Ash gave up and the two of them made their way back to Gringotts. Once inside, they had been approached by one of the goblin guards that inquired if everything was alright – said guard having noticed Harry's torn and bloodied shirt. Ash gave a brief description of the encounter with the owl and the shopkeeper while Harry swayed slightly on his feet due to the extended, if gradual, loss of blood from the wounds on his shoulder.

The goblin frowned at the sight of the rather severe injury before calling to another goblin in gobbledygook. Not more than seven minutes later, a goblin healer garbed in a hideous yellow suit rushed into the lobby carrying a bag made out of some bright orange material. Harry was escorted to the nearest chair (which happened to be one of the tall stools of the goblin tellers) and encouraged to sit down while the goblin healer stood on a second stool and cut away the ruined shirt to access the now bruised and still bleeding wound. The brown and white speckled and barred owl with bright yellow eyes, which was still riding on Harry's shoulder, promptly gave a mournful ki kri as it fluttered down to Harry's lap and gazed the wound it inflicted. Ash suspected the bird regretted injuring Harry during the encounter but he wasn't entirely certain just how intelligent the creature really was.

Working silently, and effectively, the yellow robed goblin soon had the wound cleaned and disinfected. The bleeding was stopped just a few seconds later as the diminutive healer slathered a generous amount of green paste over all of the punctures and scratches – even the red welts where the owl's talons did not break skin – before bandaging his shoulder. Harry was then handed a reddish brown potion (blood replenishing potion according to the goblin guard standing watch over the entire procedure) and told to drink it until he felt the need to gag. Harry only managed a few sips of the vile liquid before he began feeling sick to his stomach much as he would if he'd eaten too much sugar.

Seconds later, the healer (and all of his medical paraphernalia) was gone and Harry was feeling considerably better; other than feeling more than a little queasy. In fact, he felt well enough to be embarrassed about his current lack of a shirt as several late bank customers stared at the now half naked wizard sitting on a goblin's teller stool. Blushing bright red, Harry slipped down off the stool while simultaneously scooping his apparent new pet up into his arms to prevent it from tumbling to the floor in his haste to withdraw from public eye. He was saved further embarrassment by the arrival of the goblin they were meeting about purchasing the portkeys.

Not long after paying the three thousand galleons for three permanent portkeys; father, son, and owl found themselves standing (or sprawling in Harry's case) in the clearing just outside the cavern where the two Ketchums had made their temporary home. After getting Harry's new owl situated with a makeshift perch, bowl of water, and several slices of different berries, Harry slipped off to bed to a healing sleep that would finish what the goblin healer had started.

Over the course of the next fifteen days, Harry spent nearly every waking minute gallivanting through the countryside with his Pokémon. He knew he would be unable to take any of his furry friends with him to the magical school due to their abilities and unique appearances, so he wanted to spend as much time with them as he could. (Not that he was in any way pleased at the thought of leaving them all behind.) The Pokémon apparently sensed his unease about the up coming separation because all twelve of them were far more clingy than usual.

The two unevolved eevee and Trickster seemed to be the ones most affected. Trickster because the wolf-like fire Pokémon had developed a very close bond with the boy during the near twelve years they'd been together and the two eevee because they were still somewhat reliant upon Harry for protection as their current forms were somewhat weak compared to their evolved siblings. Thankfully, Harry had not returned to this world alone, as he had originally intended, otherwise the situation would be far worse without Ash here to help the bonded Pokémon feel less abandoned when he left for school.

In the evenings, Ash and Harry would spend a few hours together pouring over the various books they had purchased in Diagon Alley. This included a last minute purchase of an extensive Owl Guide that Ash had purchased (through Gringotts) to help Harry learn about his new pet. Using the guide, they discovered that the somewhat violent bird was a northern hawk owl while the injured owl that had shown up earlier in the month was a barn owl.

Harry was more than a bit surprised that the wizarding world employed the services of well over fifty different types of owls to deliver various letters and packages. He wouldn't have figured more than a handful but then each species tended to have different strengths which affected how far they could fly and how much weight they could carry with them. Medium sized owls, such as the barn owls and northern hawk owls that averaged a height somewhere between twelve and eighteen inches, could be trusted to handle letters and packages under eight pounds and travel distances of up to a six hundred miles a day without stopping to rest.

Each postal owl was trained from birth to recognize humans (and occasionally goblins) as owners or masters. Once their flight feathers grew in, the birds were layered with various charms and wards to protect them from most weather conditions, parasites, and illnesses that were common amongst the predatory birds. These spells included an Ownership Bond that linked an owl to an individual or family (which was transferred to the new owner upon purchase), a Navigational Charm to help the owl locate the addressee of any letter or package, a Strengthening Charm on the bird's feathers and bones to give it more stamina, and Mild Confundus Charm that overrode the owls natural instincts to prevent the birds from abandoning their new owners (and allowed them to fly during all hours of the day, even if they were of a strictly nocturnal species).

Because Ash and Harry had insisted on paying the shop keeper, through the goblins since they hadn't been able to pay the man directly, the Ownership Bond had fully transferred to Harry giving him the ability to command his new owl – if not quite complete control over it like most owners achieved (that was more due to the owl's personality than a glitch in the bond though). Although, because the owl, in a way, chose Harry as opposed to having been selected by Harry he did have slightly more power over the owl's actions than the store keeper had previously. In light of the owl's stubborn and independent nature, Harry decided to name the feisty bird Mule.

On the morning of August thirty-first, Harry rose early and packed all of his school books and equipment into his small trunk. On top of those, he added all but one of his school uniforms, a few changes of clothes, his jacket, and a basket of various fresh berries from home that he had selected to take with him. On a whim, he decided to take the second owl perch Ash had purchased for the times when Mule was with him at the school as he was uncertain if Mule would be willing to stay in the school's owlry given how anti-social the bird behaved most days. Unseen by Harry, as he turned around to grab the oak perch, two small brown bodies jumped into the open suitcase and vanished into the depths under his black school robes.

Once the perch was in the case, Harry slammed the lid and locked the trunk with the flick of the clasp. Next he placed his final uniform, a single change of clothes, his toiletries, a small bag of sickles and knuts he was taking for spending money, and his copy of the Wizard's Handbook into the magical book bag he had purchased from the market place and shouldered the lightweight bag. He then slipped the long slim box containing his oak and dragon heart wand into the outside pocket of his satchel before lifting the trunk off his bed and heading outside of the cave where his father was waiting with the portkey to Gringotts and Mule's cage. Just before they left, Harry gave each of his Pokémon a tight hug goodbye, though he wondered where the two eevee were hiding as they were the only ones he didn't see. Unfortunately, there was no time to search for the missing fox-cats.

Five minutes later, after the jarring movement of the whirlwind travel by enchanted object; the two of them were standing on the steps of the large white bank in Diagon Alley. From there, the pair wove their way through the light morning traffic until they reach the portal to the Leaky Cauldron. On the way through the rather dingy and smoke filled pub, Ash paused next to the bar just long enough to order a plate of sandwiches to go, before they were out on the other side in Muggle London. After a short trip by bus, they arrived at their London home where they would be spending the night. They could have portkeyed straight to the home but Ash had wanted to use the trip familiarize himself with the bustling city.

Harry never bothered opening his suitcase, as he had everything he would need for the night and the next day in his satchel. Instead, he spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon going over the blueprints of the Highland cottage with his father in addition to picking out furniture for both his room here in London and his future room at the Highland property.

* * *

><p><em>Saturday Mid-Morning, August 31, 1991<br>Flamel Estate, Dijon Region  
>France<em>

On the last day of August, in Dijon, France, in the heart of an impenetrable fortress, Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel were just sitting down to a late breakfast when a rather exhausted great horned owl fluttered in through the window carrying a letter bearing the Gringotts Seal.

"The game is a foot," Nicolas commented solemnly as he freed the owl from the missive and set the sealed scroll down on the table. "Now we just have to see if the fool is rational enough to heed our warnings."

"Warnings we both know will remain unheeded, Nicolas," Perenelle countered distastefully as she dropped her cutlery onto her plate and shoved her barely touched breakfast away from her. "I dread to think of all the poor children that will suffer for his casual disregard and greed."

"We can only hope the words of caution I gave him are enough to make him hesitate – if only for a little while. In the mean time, I suppose I should confirm that the imbécile has taken the stone."

Nicolas lifted the scroll into his hands once more and slid his thumb under the sealing wax, separating the wax from the parchment below. The moment the wax was free of the paper, it began hissing and steaming as it melted into an indistinguishable blob before vanishing in a puff of acrid smoke. Apparently this was supposed to happen as neither Flamel paid the magical disappearance any attention as Nicolas unrolled the small scroll and began reading the letter silently. Half way through the letter, Nicolas dropped it in shock as he turned to face the far off and unseen island of Great Briton, a silent tear trekking its way down his cheek. Concerned by her husband's unexpected show of emotions, Perenelle quickly lifted the letter from where it had fluttered to the floor so that she could read it herself.

_Greetings Monsieur Flamel,_

_Per your request and instructions the package delivered to vault 713 has been  
>retrieved by a cohort of the party you previously listed as the intended recipient.<br>Additionally, we are obligated to inform you that there has been a claim submitted  
>to this institution for ownership of trust vault 107, which as you know has not<br>been claimed by an heir since the mid 1800's. _

_Circumstances surrounding the recent claim have been sealed by order of Lord  
>Manager Ragnok, so we are unable to pass along the details through an unsecured<br>owl post at this time. We are, however, at your disposal should you wish to pursue  
>the matter in person at your earliest convenience. <em>

_Sincèrement,_

_Gringotts Bank  
>Inheritance and Vault Management Division<em>

"Is this accurate, Nicolas?" Perenelle gasped as she clutched her throat with one hand as her own emotions overwhelmed her. "Can this be true? An answer to our hopes and prayers?"

"The seal was genuine but further than that I can not speculate, Pigeon," Nicolas rasped out thickly as he finally brought himself back into the present. "I dare not allow myself to hope though, for this could easily be some manipulation of Dumbledore's. Stepping foot on English soil, even on the neutral grounds of Gringotts, at this point is an invitation to disaster, especially because the timing for the vault access is all wrong."

"Explain."

"The vault can only be accessed and opened when an heir comes of age; our great grandson should not be able to gain access to the vault for another six or seven years. I fear Dumbledore has managed to outmaneuver us finally, or else the goblins have thrown in their lot with the conniving goat herder."

"What… what if it is an illegitimate child of Charlus's or James's? A bastard from an earlier indiscretion that had previously been hidden? Or possibly a forgotten child descended from one of our other children? It could happen, yes?"

"Unfortunately, no, the tapestry would have hinted at such an indiscretion long before now and you know as well as I do that there were no survivors other than the Potters," Nicolas countered sadly without hesitation as he rose from the table. "Although, there is a chance that the tapestry may hold a clue as to who has breached the security of our heir's vault."

Moving with a spryness that belied their advanced age, both Flamels exited the informal dining room and headed towards a sealed door on the second floor. As they reached the door, Nicolas pulled a long silver chain from around his neck upon which dangled a finely wrought golden skeleton key inlaid with a tiny shard of blood red stone. Grasping the key firmly in his hand, he inserted the key, not into the lock on the door, but into an almost imperceptible indentation on the wall just to the left of the door. He then lifted his left hand up to the handle of the door and pressed the face of his wedding band, which held a similar stone as that on the key, into the lock of the door. The moment the ring touched the silver surface of the lock, a loud gong sounded throughout the room and the door silently swung open on well oiled hinges.

Torches flared to life as both witch and wizard stepped into the room, the light of the dancing flames reflecting off the facets of a gigantic blood red stone suspended in the middle of the room. The huge stone, which gave off a soft light of its own, was close to three feet in length and half a foot in diameter at the top, expanding to a little over a foot in diameter near the bottom. The bottom edge of the stone was jagged (unquestionable evidence that numerous pieces of the stone had been cut away from it through the years since it was created) while the rest of the stone was smooth as glass. It was an awe inspiring monolith but neither Nicolas nor Perenelle paid the stone any attention as they strode purposefully across the room to the far wall where an enormous tapestry covered the entire wall from ceiling to floor.

Woven into the pale blue background of the tapestry in thick gold, red, and black threads were the names of the Flamel Family going as far back as Nicolas's great-great-great grandfather. The five generations above Nicolas's name were all woven in black threads – signifying that his immediate ancestors had all died of natural causes. Nicolas's name was woven in bright gold with his birth date woven in silver below it. Right next to his name was Perenelle's name and birth date, their names linked with a thinner strand of woven silver under which their wedding date was embroidered. Nearly ninety percent of the names listed under the long-lived couple appeared in thick red threads the color of freshly spilt blood; which signified that those descendants had died violent premature deaths at the hands of another. The small handful of names woven in darker red were of those individuals that suffered a fatal accident or illness that had cut their lives short. The rest of the names, except for one towards the bottom of the tree, were all done in black threads.

The tapestry itself was a brilliant bit of magic; it updated itself automatically in regards to the status of any individual that had even the weakest of links to the Flamel family. Sadly, this spectacular piece of work was nothing more than a tragic reminder to both Flamels that most of their family had been torn from their lives by violence and that the rest had already passed on to the other side (bar their many times great-grandson). In fact, out of the over four hundred names embroidered on the tapestry, only three names were still woven in thick threads of vibrant gold. It was that third and final name that drew the Flamels' attention as they came to a stop before the once majestic family tree.

For the last ten years, after the brutal murders of James and Lily Potter, the name of their son had been nothing more than a golden blur amidst the clarity of surrounding red names. Prior to that day, they hadn't even known the child existed due to the magic of the Fidelius Charm that had been cast over James and Lily within minutes of their wedding vows; the spell had prevented the magic interwoven in the tapestry from adding the child's name to the tapestry as it should have the moment he'd been born. Dumbledore further muddled the ancestral magics about a year after the young heir's birth, by adding a second Fidelius behind which the young couple hid their son from the supposed forces of the dark wizard Voldemort.

This much the Flamels had been able to determine from various books published by the English Ministry of Magic shortly after discovering James and Lily's threads had reappeared in blood red on the tapestry on Halloween night of the year nineteen-eighty-one. The only reason the family tree had been able to update at that time was due to the automatic lifting of the first two Fidelius Charms upon the immediate death of James and Lily. Unfortunately, due to the nature of a third Fidelius (and an additional two more binding charms that the Flamels were unaware of) the name of their youngest and only surviving heir had still been blurred upon the tapestry the last time they had checked it just a month earlier after receiving Dumbledore's latest demands.

Shortly after the loss of young James and his wife, the two Flamels had hoped that they would be able to discover the name of their (many times) great-grandson through the same methods they had used to learn the details about what had happened to James and Lily but that hope had been in vain. All of the books had been blurred to them the same way the tapestry's thread was blurred on the family tree. In an attempt to get around that road block, they had asked a couple of individuals to read those sections aloud to them, only for the protective magic to muffle the pertinent facts the moment they were uttered out loud. It had been one frustrating failure after another throughout the years – hence the reason why Nicolas had created the false stone in order to trick Dumbledore into believing that he had finally given into his demands.

Hardly daring to breathe, the two elderly Flamels peered closely at the bottom most name still written in living gold thread. To their shock, and eternal relief, that name was no longer a golden smudge upon the tree. Unfortunately, what was there was almost as confusing as the blur that had previously occupied the space of their youngest and only living descendant.

Written in gold thread, was the name Harry James Potter. Over top of that name though, in silver thread (which was usually only used to signify familial connections between various members of the family and marital bonds) was the name Harry Ketchum. Directly under the two superimposed names was a single date of birth; July thirty-first, nineteen eighty. Below the birth date, where the individual's age was listed on all of the other family names, was another mystery. What should have been a simple two digit number was actually an odd three digit number, with the last two numbers superimposed upon each other exactly like the two names. The first number was a crisp number one woven in a mix of gold and silver thread while the second number was a silver seven woven over a gold one.

"What does it mean, Nicolas?"

"I have no idea, Pigeon. Merde!" Nicolas cursed in response. "I don't have any idea how to answer the questions this… this… predicament has raised. In all my years, I have never seen the magic in the tapestry twist in such a way. It would appear that we will have to seek an audience with the goblins after all."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Translations – French to English

imbécile = fool  
>sincèrement = Sincerely<br>merde = curse word

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _A short chapter, I know… but it was mostly just wrapping up the summer to get Harry on his way to Hogwarts and showing one of the consequences of the time Harry spent in the Pokémon World and how his physical age is affecting both his magic and the magic around him. _

_I'm not certain I explained the way the Fidelius Charms worked very well… basically what I was trying to imply was that the charms were specifically aimed at the Flamels (and any other family that Harry has) and worded in such a way that the only people that could tell the Flamels their (many times great) grandson's name were Dumbledore or Harry though there is another loophole in the charm that will come up later (I'd say what it is now but it would spoil what's coming up in later chapters). _

_And now you know what will be happening to Harry's Pokémon; at least what is currently happening to them as Harry leaves for Hogwarts. And yep… I did have the pair stowaway, I mean really… they are mischievous little critters and they don't like being left behind. Sadly, it just wasn't realistic enough for ALL of them to stowaway and they won't completely be left alone, since Ash and Ash's Pokémon will be there to help keep them company until they see Harry once again._

_I'll also apologize for the sort of rushed description of Mule. I'd tried working in a longer one but ended up pulling it out again because it didn't quite flow properly so here is his full description; he's mostly medium brown with white speckles or splotches on his wings and back while his belly and under wings are barred with alternating rows of white and brown (or gray-brown) feathers and he has yellow eyes. _

_Finally, I'd like to thank all of my reviewers for your kind words! I know I don't always answer all of them but I do appreciate each of them. If you happen to ask a question and I don't specifically reply to answer is it because that question will be answered in the next chapter or two and I don't want to spoil the story not because I don't think your question is worth answering. =) I still find it hard to believe that over 1000 people already have this story on their favorites/alerts lists… so very humbling. ~ Jenn_

**12-26-12:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	6. Of Trains and Castles

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 6: Of Trains and Castles<span>_

_Sunday Morning, September 01, 1991  
>Traveling: Hogwarts Express<br>From London, England to Hogwarts, Scotland_

The next morning, Harry was up extra early. He'd had some difficulty sleeping the night before due to the mixture of excitement, worry, and uncertainty he was feeling in regards to attending Hogwarts. He was also missing his Pokémon friends deeply, not to mention worrying about the two sulking eevee who he'd been unable to say goodbye to the day before.

To calm his nerves, he headed down to the kitchen and began making breakfast. He started by chopping up a bit of bell pepper, mushroom, onions, and cooked ham which he then sautéed for a few minutes in butter before setting the partially cooked vegetables and warmed meat aside. He then shredded some medium Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese into the bowl with the vegetable and ham before stirring it with a spoon. Next, he cracked eight eggs into a large measuring cup, poured in a bit of milk, and beat the mixture until well blended. Harry then checked the heat on the stove and poured about half of the egg mixture into the still warm pan he'd used to sauté the veggies.

While the eggs were cooking on a low-medium setting, Harry added a touch of garlic powder, a dash of salt, and some black pepper to the cheese, meat, and vegetables before stirring the mixture once more. Next, he grabbed the spatula and carefully turned the cooking eggs over before emptying half the bowl of omelet fillings onto the nearly cooked scrambled eggs in the pan. He then used the spatula to first spread the filling evenly over half of the eggs before flipping the other side up over the mixture and holding it in place with the spatula until the cheese melted enough to hold the top of the omelet in place. Harry flipped the entire thing over once before sliding the finished omelet out onto a plate and starting on the second omelet, pausing only long enough to shred a small amount of cheddar over the top of the finished omelet.

By the time he finished the second omelet and made a pot of coffee, Ash had joined him in the kitchen and the two of them sat down to enjoy one last meal together before Harry left for school. They made small talk as they ate; taking obvious pains to avoid mentioning Harry's looming school term. When they finished eating, Ash began washing up the dishes while Harry robotically packed himself a large lunch for the train ride (he'd been warned by Professor Sprout that the trip would last until the evening and gorging himself on the sweets she said were sold during the ride was not an option due to his body's inability to handle large amounts of processed sugars).

At nine o'clock, the pair of them locked up the house and walked down to the nearest bus terminal where they caught the nine-fifteen bus to King's Cross station. They arrived at their destination forty-nine minutes later and spent a little over half an hour wandering through the train station looking for platforms nine and ten. When they found what they were looking for, the two of them casually stepped up to the column immediately between the two gates and slowly sank (unnoticed) into the invisible doorway between the muggle world and the magical world.

On the other side, they came face to face with a large, old fashioned, steam engine painted fire engine red and black with the words Hogwarts Express blazoned on the front and sides. It was an impressive sight, right out of the history books though Harry was reluctant to allow himself to feel awed by the large train because he'd rather not attend some remote boarding school for ten months out of the year for the next seven years. He'd much prefer to spend that time exploring the Highlands with his Pokémon and helping Ash put their new home together or better yet going home and spending that time researching Pokémon from around the world with his father. Sighing, Harry turned to his father and gave him a tight hug as he fought to control his emotions.

"You'll look for the eevee pair when you get home tonight, right, dad?" Harry asked around the lump in his throat.

"Yes, I'm sure they'll turn up soon," Ash assured Harry for the umpteenth time. "They're probably just sulking around the cave anyway."

"I'm going to miss you, dad."

"I'll miss you too, Sport, but before you know it the winter holidays will be here and we'll have three weeks together before you have to return to the school. Don't worry about me and the Pokémon, we'll be able to take care of each other."

"I know, I just wish we didn't have to come here at all," Harry whispered as he clung to his father a bit tighter.

Though he was technically seventeen years old and far more mature than most teens his age, at that moment Harry felt as if he really was just the twelve or thirteen years he looked. Growing up over the last twelve years with his adopted father, Harry had often hated the fact that he never grew at the same rate as his friends and neighbors. His short stature was always the butt of many jokes and insults through the years, especially when coupled with his distinct reluctance to battle with his Pokémon. Through the years, Ash had in some ways over protected Harry from the harsher side of life but never tried to keep Harry in the dark about the world around him. In this way, Harry was well prepared to face what ever was thrown his way.

On the other hand, Harry hadn't been on his own in over eleven years. He'd always had either his Pokémon or his father watching over him through the years he'd spent in what he now considered his home world. His early years, spent with his verbally abusive and hateful relatives, had given rise to a desperate yearning for love and family. Once he had that family, in the form of Ash, Delia, and his Pokémon; the last thing he wanted to do was leave that family behind. It was one of the reasons he'd never gone off to take the Pokémon Challenge like so many of his friends had. He was content to spend his time with his father traveling the world and learning about the various Pokémon they encountered.

Because of this, the forced separation due to the apparent need to attend an out of the way exclusive boarding school for magic was rougher on Harry than it was on the younger children he'd be joining at Hogwarts as first years. The other children by comparison, who were actually the ages they appeared to be, all appeared excited by the prospect of leaving their parents behind to explore the wonders of magic. It made Harry feel awkward and alone as he stood there in his father's arms while the excited chattering waves of new and returning students surged all around them.

"Everything will be just fine, Sport," Ash whispered as he gave Harry one last squeeze before letting go. "Don't forget to send Mule with a letter later tonight, to let me know you got there okay."

"I won't forget, dad," Harry confirmed as he brushed away the moisture that had gathered in the corner of his eyes. "I love you, dad."

"I love you too, son, now get going before the train takes off without you."

Harry gave Ash one last hug before he gathered up his trunk and Mule's cage and climbed onto the nearest train car. He leaned out the window and waved one last time to his father before he set about searching out an empty compartment to camp out in for the trip. As he wandered through the cars, he couldn't help but notice that although there must be hundreds of students on the train and platform, most of the compartments were fairly empty save one or two students. _You'd think they'd remove any extra cars to allow for better fuel consumption_, Harry thought to himself as he finally found an empty room.

Sighing in resignation, he stepped into the compartment and set Mule down on one of the seats before tucking his small trunk up into the luggage rack above the seats. Next, he took his satchel from his shoulder and placed it in the seat beside the window before lifting Mule's cage from the seat so he could hang it on one of the various hooks he assumed were provided for such things. Satisfied that his owl would be safe and secure, he picked his book bag back up and sat down in the window seat before digging out his Wizard's Handbook so he could read.

As he read, Harry was peripherally aware of the students walking up and down the train in the corridor beyond his room. He was privately thankful when none of them entered his compartment though as he felt extremely uncomfortable at the mere thought of trying to make new friends – something he'd always felt as long as he could remember. Ten minutes after boarding, he felt the car beneath him give a sharp jerk before the train slowly began inching its way out of the station, for better or for worse, he was on his way to Hogwarts.

* * *

><p>The magical clone of Harry James Potter had no soul and therefore had no sense of self. It could not think for itself nor could it feel any real emotions. Dumbledore had been well aware of this when he created the most recent clone and had used archaic spells and dark hexes to mimic real life. In this way, once programmed, the clone behaved as it was expected to, if a little robotically. The first true test of how accurate the spells and hexes functioned was the day that Hagrid took the clone to Diagon Alley. The test had been a rounding success – if one ignored the issues Hagrid had in accessing the Potter Trust Vault (which Dumbledore blamed on the Flamels since they were Harry's only living relatives).<p>

The second test for the clone was to take place on the train ride to Hogwarts. The target was the Weasley family, well the youngest son of the Weasley family at any rate. Dumbledore's goal in this trial was to have the clone make friends with Ronald Weasley without drawing any undue attention from the other children. To this end, Albus had managed to have the Dursleys drop the clone off outside the barrier of platform nine and three quarters just minutes before the train was scheduled to leave. Like clockwork, the Weasley matron arrived not more than a minute later (running late as always) with her five youngest in tow.

Once the clone's objective entered its sight, the clone shuffled forward and in a strained and tinny sounding voice, it begged Mrs. Weasley to show it how to access the platform. Mrs. Weasley, ever the consummate mother and fully aware that Albus was setting the boy up to become her surrogate son (with her cooperation and blessings), readily helped what she thought was the real Boy-Who-Lived onto the platform in the company of her youngest son. The clone then quickly ensconced itself in an empty compartment where it was joined a few minutes later (on the orders of his mother) by Ron Weasley.

As the Weasley boy slowly found himself befriending who he thought was the Boy-Who-Lived, Albus Dumbledore monitored the child and the clone through a scrying mirror he'd linked to the clone's eyes. In this way, Albus could see everything that the clone saw and use remote spells to force the clone to react in any situation as it was expected to. The only draw back of using this method to monitor and control the clone was the fact that there would be long stretches of time where Albus would be unable to keep watch over the magical double. Back on the train, as the locomotive gradually began to pick up speed, Harry the clone soon settled into a mostly one-sided conversation with Ron while the real Harry buried his nose in his handbook several compartments away in the same train car.

Halfway through the ride, when his stomach began to rumble, Harry set his book to one side and dug out his lunch from the satchel next to him. He was just slicing up a large Grepa Berry (known back home to help trainers bond with their Pokémon with the unfortunate side effect of lowering their special defense) to share with Mule, when a young girl with bushy hair barged into his compartment without knocking.

"Have you seen a toad?" the girl imperiously and quite rudely demanded. "One of the first year boy's has lost his."

"No," Harry curtly replied, more than a touch offended by the girl's superior demeanor.

"No need to be rude about it," the girl sniffed in return, as if Harry's rudeness hadn't been in response to her own less than friendly demand.

"Says the pot calling the kettle black," Harry sniped back.

"Well I never!" the girl huffed as she stormed right back out of the compartment.

"Good riddance," Harry growled almost inaudibly. He really didn't like snobs and that girl had obviously had a chip on her shoulder the size of a mountain. Snorting indelicately, he finished paring the berry and quickly passed several of the thin slices up to his owl who gratefully accepted the treat.

He was just taking a bite out of the turkey and lettuce sandwich he'd made for himself that morning when the next interruption occurred. This time it was an older witch pushing a cart full of various candies and treats who asked him if he wished to purchase anything. Curious about some of the odd things she was selling, Harry purchased one of each item and carefully stored them in his satchel so he could try them another time or send them off to his father instead. Not more then ten minutes later there was another interruption in the form of a small blonde boy with two larger boys in tow.

"I was informed that Harry Potter has been sighted on the train," The blonde boy snootily drawled as he sneered at Harry. "Is he sharing this compartment with you?"

"Well," Harry slowly intoned as he glanced at the three boys over the top of his glasses. "Does it look like I'm sharing with anyone else?"

Apparently answering the boy's question with one of his own was enough to confuse the blonde haired boy so thoroughly that he simply walked away muttering under his breath. As he went, Harry distinctly heard something about mud, blood, and annoying second years. Rolling his eyes over the dramatics of the other boy, Harry finished up his sandwich before packing up the rest of the leftovers so he could tuck them back into his bag.

He then had nearly an hour of uninterrupted peace and quiet until a commotion out in the corridor broke his concentration. Annoyed, because he had been in the middle of researching the various uses of the Expansion Charm (he was hoping to use the charm to create a better pokéball for trainers to use instead of the current ones that forced Pokémon into cramped spaces), Harry slammed his book shut and leaned his head out to see what or rather who, was causing the commotion.

Just a short ways down the corridor, he saw the same blonde boy and his two companions sprawled in a heap with a tall red headed boy standing over them laughing and making snide comments. Harry was just about to tell them to keep it down, when he caught sight of another boy that made the bottom of his stomach drop out. Ducking back into his compartment, he locked the door and sat down in his chair shaking like a leaf as he considered who he had just seen.

_It was like looking in a mirror,_ he thought to himself as he ran his hand shakily over his face and tried to calm his nerves. _Even though the goblins had warned us that someone was going around pretending to be me, I never really believed them. I guess I thought it was all just one big joke. And yet, I just saw the proof of it with my own eyes. _Taking a deep breath to clear his mind, Harry quickly jumped to his feet and lifted down his trunk. He'd just unlocked the clasp and pulled open the lid when he was tackled by the two missing eevee.

"You sneaky little stow-a-ways!" Harry cried as he wrapped his arms around both animals. "I'd been wondering where the two of you had gotten away to. Although I can't really say I'm surprised, given your tendency of getting into trouble, Dilly. What am I going to do with you two though?"

Shaking his head, Harry put the unexpected appearance of his missing friends out of his mind for the moment as he set them down on the floor of the compartment and dug out a roll of parchment, an envelope, and one of the ball point pens he'd brought to use on any letters he wrote instead of fighting with the quill and ink. Once he had what he needed, he closed the trunk and returned it to the luggage rack before sinking back into his seat. He gave the two mournful looking eevee, who were wearing identical sad faces, a stern look over the top of his glasses before digging out the remains of his lunch which he promptly split into two portions for the starving Pokémon – who'd been trapped in the trunk for over twenty-four hours now (the basket of berries he'd brought with him locked up securely so it wouldn't spill).

While the hungry Pokémon devoured the food, Harry began writing out a letter to his dad. He started off talking about how empty the train seemed, how rude the other children behaved, and how boring the ride was as the day dragged on. He then went on to mention that he found the missing eevee, in his trunk of all places, and how he'd just come practically face to face with the boy who was masquerading as his twin. He asked his father to send a basket of poffins, berries, and Pokémon supplies for the tag-a-long Pokémon and for advice on how to deal with the imposter. He then told his dad that he missed him already before signing his name to the bottom of the letter.

Using his pen knife; he trimmed his letter off of the roll, folded it in half and in half again, stuffed it into the owl post envelope, and quickly scribbled his father's name across the front of the letter. Harry then rose to his feet once more and handed the letter to Mule, who took it in his beak.

"I'll let you out when we stop, boy, and you can take that up to the Highland Cave for dad, he said he'd be there by this evening," Harry instructed as he ran his fingers over the owl's crest feathers. "The trip shouldn't take more than a couple of hours from the school so I expect you'll be able to get there and back tonight if needs be; if not I'll see you tomorrow with dad's reply."

The owl nodded and gave a cry of kri-ki to show that it understood. Harry smiled at the bird in appreciation before turning his attention back to the two eevee who were currently curled up under the seat he'd been sitting on while writing his letter. He shook his head, before scooping the two Pokémon up into his arms so he could tuck them into his magically expanded satchel where they'd be hidden from any prying eyes that wandered into his compartment.

An hour or so later, a magically amplified voice echoed through the train announcing that their destination was quickly approaching. The voice then suggested that all students should put on their school uniforms prior to exiting the train. Harry closed his eyes and sent off a brief prayer for strength and calmness before digging out the uniform he'd packed in his book bag. After taking off the sweater he'd worn over his shirt, he pulled the robe on right over his clothes, disregarding the seamstress's instructions to wear nothing but his underclothes beneath the odd garment. The robes were long enough to hide the hem of his pants (which were themselves black) and loose enough not to be uncomfortable over his clothes. He was a little warm with the extra layers, but it felt far more comfortable then wearing nothing but the robe.

As he was packing his scattered belongings back into the book bag (much to the dismay of the two eevee), the train whistle gave out two shrill calls as the train began to noticeably slow down. Two minutes later, great billowing clouds of steam rushed passed the window of his compartment as the train ground to a soft but sudden stop. The magical voice then spoke once more, telling the students it was time to disembark and reminding them to leave their trunks and other luggage on the train. Harry calmly ignored the instructions as he shouldered the satchel holding his personal items and the Pokémon before lifting Mule down out of his cage. He did leave the now empty owl cage and his trunk behind though.

By the time he stepped out of the compartment, most of the other children had already gotten off the train. This actually made it easier for him to make his way to the nearest door so he could climb down without being jostled. The moment he stepped down off the last step, he gave Mule a gentle toss into the air to send the owl on his way. He watched the owl flap off into the night for a few seconds before taking a look around at the quickly emptying platform. Seeing where most of the students were heading, he started after them without a second thought. He'd just taken a few steps after the bulk of the students, who were heading towards a line of horse-drawn carriages (though Harry had difficulty seeing what kind of horses had been harnessed to the carriages), when he heard a booming voice calling out for the first years to follow him down to the docks.

Shaking his head over his near mistake, Harry quickly changed directions so he could catch up to the other straggling first years as the headed down to the lake. As he rounded the bend, Harry caught sight of a large castle situated on a cliff overlooking the large lake. It was a breath taking sight, with the windows glowing brightly against the night sky; it looked like a scene right out of a fairy tale. Unfortunately, the view was marred in Harry's mind by the huge giant of a man that was currently greeting the imposter in that loud booming voice.

Frowning, Harry took a minute to study the boy posing as Harry Potter. He was skinny and even shorter than Harry had been at age eleven, he was also quite pale and wearing what looked like second hand robes. Standing next to the fake on the right, was the red headed boy that had been laughing over the blonde boy in the corridor, while on the left was the bushy haired snob that had been so rude to Harry earlier. The snob was chatting up a storm to a timid boy on her other side that appeared to be too scared to get a word in edgewise.

This was going to be far more challenging then he'd originally thought it would be.

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Harry has now seen his double, the clone has been unleashed on Hogwarts, Harry is less than impressed with the few first years he has personally interacted with, and the stow-a-ways have been discovered. We also had a brief look at what Dumbledore believes happened when Hagrid tried to access the Potter vaults at Gringotts; wrongfully thinking that Flamels had managed to convince the goblins to seal the vaults in hopes that they could get information about their 'dead' grandson that way. Next chapter will have Harry and his clone sorted, a solution to the eevees' presence at the castle, the feast, and Harry settling into his new house. As always I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	7. So Says the Tattered Old Hat

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 7: So Says the Tattered Old Hat<span>_

_Sunday Evening, September 01, 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

The ride across the lake in the rickety old boat was far from impressive. The boat Harry ended up sitting in had at least one crack in the hull that allowed the frigid water to seep up though the floor and cover his feet. With him, were three other boys; a young Irish kid that couldn't stop raving about meeting 'Thee Harry Potter', a brown haired and brown eyed boy who kept trying to find out what was so special about 'Harry Potter', and a snobbish black haired and brown eyed boy that kept his nose firmly in the air as he pretended to ignore everyone else in the boat.

Harry vaguely wished he'd climbed into the boat with the pretty twins and the blonde girl instead – at least they seemed far more interested in the castle as opposed to drooling over the imposter. If Harry could hear what the three girls were actually talking about, he'd be thankful he was sitting right where he was, as the three girls were dissecting the other 'Harry's' appearance with a fine toothed comb swooning playfully over those 'dreamy green eyes' and messy 'Potter' hair.

After passing underneath the castle into a large cavern that doubled as a dock for the battered boats, the first years were told to step out onto the short pier. At this point, the huge man leading them apparently noticed that Harry was carrying his book bag and attempted to confiscate the satchel. Harry stubbornly refused to relinquish the bag. The man gave up after a few minutes when it appeared that Harry was far more obstinate than expected and turned to lead the group of thirty-seven nervous eleven and twelve year olds and one growth stunted seventeen year old up a steep path to the main entrance of the castle.

Once they reached the castle doors and were allowed inside, the large man (who had been identified by the witch at the door as Hagrid) gave Harry one last dirty look for not following rules before he disappeared into the castle. The new students, meanwhile, were led off to an antechamber where the stern witch took a moment to introduce herself (as Professor McGonagall), welcome them to the castle, give them a run down on the houses they were to be sorted into, and admonish them to smarten themselves up before she returned.

While the younger children chittered and chattered about what was expected of them for the Sorting Ceremony, Harry hung at the back of the room in the shadows and glared silently at the boy walking about with his face. Whoever the kid was, he stayed silent and unobtrusive as he practically clung to the red headed kid. His demeanor was actually somewhat similar to Harry's own but far more extreme in that he stared at the floor and never bothered looking around at the room they were in or the children surrounding him. Before he had much of a chance to study his double any further though, his attention was drawn to the entrance of the small room as Professor McGonagall returned and chivvied them into forming a line so she could lead them to wherever it was they needed to go.

The first years were led back into the entrance hall where they were then escorted through a huge pair of double doors. The Great Hall, used as both a dining room and assembly hall according to _Hogwarts, A History_, was absolutely huge. It was also fairly bright between the torches strung up on three of the four walls and the thousands of candles that hovered just overhead. The enchanted ceiling, charmed to mimic the sky, currently sported the view of thousands of stars bedded in a blanket of midnight blue. The ceiling was far more majestic than what Harry had expected to see based upon the descriptions in the book and Harry felt slightly dwarfed by the idea that magic could so thoroughly deceive him into thinking he was looking up at the actual sky and amazed at the same time for the same reason.

Shortly after entering the large hall, the first years were instructed to spread out in a line just in front of the staff table where a single stool and a battered old hat sat on the edge of the dais. They had only a few minutes to wonder what would happen next when their attention was drawn exclusively to the tattered hat as it shifted on the stool for a moment before it opened the large rip near the brim and began to sing.

_Welcome one and welcome all  
>Assorted students here in this hall<br>The time has come for the newest  
>To be divided at my behest <em>

_For those who seek glory as the brave of heart  
>In Gryffindor you'll be set apart<br>While those that are cunning in shadows hide  
>To Slytherin you shall step aside<em>

_Those who are loyal, just, and true  
>To Hufflepuff I shall send you<br>And those with great intelligence and wit  
>With the Ravenclaw you shall sit<em>

_So gather round dear young souls  
>It's time for me to meet this year's goals<br>Just place me quick upon your head  
>So I can tell you where you'll bed<em>

All of the older students sitting at one of four tables began clapping loudly while the majority of the new first years shifted nervously from foot to foot as they stared at the hat with no small amount of trepidation. Professor McGonagall wasted no time once the hat finished its yearly song and as she called out the first name, one Abbot, Hannah, the older students fell silent as a timid blonde girl stepped up to the stool and dropped the hat over her head. A few minutes later, the young girl was declared a **HUFFLEPUFF** by the hat and she scurried off to join the table beneath a black and yellow banner with a large badger on it.

Harry watched each child before him get sorted with detached interest. He really only wanted to insure that he ended up in a different house from a few certain select individuals. One such child was the rather rude bushy haired snob (who he learned was named Granger, Hermione) who was sorted into **GRYFFINDOR** after several long minutes sitting under the hat. Another such child was the snobbish boy he'd shared the boat ride over the lake with (though he didn't catch that particular kid's name) who'd ended up in **HUFFLEPUFF**. All too soon, right after Jones, Megan was sorted into **HUFFLEPUFF**; Harry's name was called by Professor McGonagall, "Ketchum, Harry."

Reluctantly Harry slipped out of his place in line and took a seat on the stool while placing the ragged old hat over his head. As he sat there, he felt a strange tingling sensation wash over his scalp as a tiny voice buzzed in his ear.

"_Well, well, well, what have we here? I never expected to see you so… late? You… are…_"

"Please," Harry whispered tightly, "just sort me into any house but Gryffindor."

"_Not Gryffindor? But you are a born Gryffindor! Your bravery far out paces those of your peers to this point._"

"I don't want to be surrounded by snobs or bullies," Harry insisted. "Nor do I wish to stand out as anyone special."

"_By rights I should not sort you at all, you are far too old to just be starting,_" the hat groused as it shifted back and forth on his head. "_The only reason I am considering it, is because I can see that you have a role to play as your parents did before you._"

"What? How could you…?"

"_How could I not know? I'm sitting on your head aren't I? Did you expect me to sit on your head and sort you based upon what shampoo you use?_"

"Can you please just sort me?"

"_Very well, impatient one," _the hat sighed._ "Aside from your heroic tendencies, I see you have a thirst to learn all you need to know to return home and a strong desire to improve yourself. Therefore I shall send you to_ **RAVENCLAW**, _where you will be free to learn and face your fate from the sidelines._"

Feeling decidedly light headed, Harry jumped up from the stool the moment the hat was lifted from his head and made his way to the table beneath the blue banner with a bronze eagle on it in a daze as he tried to figure out what the hat meant. He knew the hat had realized he was far older than he should be but the hat had also mentioned his parents (and it could only be in reference to his birth parents) and had hinted twice at the task he'd come back to take care. Now, if only Harry knew exactly what his task was meant to be.

Harry was rather rudely pulled out of his musings several minutes later when his birth name was called out by Professor McGonagall. He was filled with barely concealed frustration and anger as his imposter boldly (or rather without hesitation) shuffled up to the stool and placed the hat on his head. Under his watchful gaze, the hat seemed to flinch and jump the moment it settled into place. It then sent a piercing and unreadable look in Harry's direction before it called out **GRYFFINDOR** in a rather morose monotone that was completely unlike the previous sortings it had done. Harry stiffened as he watched the reactions of the other students; the Gryffindors were rudely mocking the other tables with their childish antics, the Slytherins were sneering silently, the Hufflepuffs were applauding weakly as a show of support for another house, and his fellow Ravenclaws were just about evenly split into three groups; those that clapped, those that whispered furiously about the 'Potter' sorting, and those that just silently watched the scene like Harry.

The staff were an even more mixed bag of reactions; McGonagall was puffing up like an excited popinjay, the greasy haired man on the end of the table was wearing a look of utter loathing and disdain, the strange wizard in the purple turban wore a calculating look, Professor Sprout wore a look of mild regret, and the man with long white hair and beard sitting in the middle of the table (whom he assumed was none other than Headmaster Dumbledore) wore a smug triumphant look that was tinged with satisfaction. The other teachers seemed not to show as much interest in the 'Potter' sorting, though the short wizard sitting next to Professor Sprout seemed to be sharing the witch's somber and regretful mood.

Filing away their reactions in the back of his mind, Harry allowed his thoughts to wander as the rest of the first years were sorted into their houses. When the final student had been placed into a house, Harry was pleased to note that none of the children he'd had the misfortune to encounter on the train or the boat had been sorted into Ravenclaw with him. He thought maybe he might have a chance to make a friend or two, if he could get over the age difference he shared with his fellow first years – if not, he could always get to know some of the upperclassmen.

Once the last first year had taken his seat at the Slytherin table, Professor Dumbledore rose and gave a short speech; if you could call it a speech as it was more like a simple string of four words that were only related in the vaguest sense and gave a wave of his hand. At the exact moment his hand was pointed in the general direction of the four house tables, the various empty golden serving bowls and platters suddenly became filled to the brim with a wide variety of dishes.

Very few of the offered dishes were recognizable to Harry and more than a few looked distinctly unappetizing as they were drenched in grease or heavy sauces. Sticking to the simpler fare being offered; Harry took a bit of baked whitefish, steamed garden vegetables, a baked potato, and a generous helping of salad greens. Still rather full from his large lunch, Harry nibbled on his selections as he listened to the conversations around him. The more he listened the more he revised his optimistic hopes of finding a friend amongst his peers – most of the witches and wizards around him were still firmly fixated on his imposter.

He reached out to the golden goblet in front of him and took a large sip of the drink provided only to gag at the overly spicy-sweet flavor of the unfamiliar beverage. A few of the older students laughed at him, babbling something about pumpkin juice and getting used to the flavor because it was pretty much the only thing served at Hogwarts. Harry searched the table briefly for a pitcher of water or pot of tea but was unable to locate one any where on the table. Giving up the search, he instead pulled out the half full bottle of a sugarless sports drink he'd packed for his lunch and took a large drink of that to wash the taste of the awful juice out of his mouth.

One of the older students, who identified himself as a prefect (whatever that was), tried to confiscate both his drink and his book bag but Harry stubbornly insisted that he had to keep both for health reasons. It was a small fib on his part, since he was actually in good condition, but he couldn't chance the eevee being discovered on the off chance that someone searched his bag. This annoyed the prefect but he had no choice but to drop the matter for the moment to avoid creating a scene.

After a good forty minutes, the dinner selections were replaced by a wide selection of desserts. These included everything from cakes and puddings to pies and ice cream and everything in between. All around him, the other students practically dove into the various sweets while he selected a piece of fairly bland sponge cake and a single scoop of lime sherbet (discreetly slipping bits of the cake into his bag for the two Pokémon when no one was watching). He did his best to ignore his tablemates as they gorged themselves upon the treats provided and wondered how the magical world survived on such an appalling diet.

Only fifteen minutes later, the last of the food vanished from the tables completely as Dumbledore rose to his feet a second time and began listing a few rules, such as the forest on school grounds was off limits, magic was disallowed in the corridors, something about a list of banned objects that could be found outside the caretaker's office, and to stay off the third floor unless you wanted to be sent home in a body bag. It was the oddest set of rules Harry had ever heard (with the exception of a list of banned items) and he wondered if the entire magical world was crazy.

The students were dismissed at that point and the first year Ravenclaws were led out of the hall by a pair of prefects who took them on a long round about walk through the corridors of the castle to what was being called, their house common room. Harry thought the entire trip was pointless as he noted most of the older students slipping off into various side passages and almost suspected that the two older students leading them were intentionally leading the newbies astray. He would later find out that this was true to an extent – however it wasn't done with malicious intent as the prefects needed to give the older students time to reach their dorms first. After the enforced march, the group came to a stop beside the bust of a rather dour looking wizard. The female prefect, who introduced herself as Lucy Carmichael, stepped forward and addressed the statue with a serious expression on her face.

"We bring you this year's newest students, Monsieur Moreau."

To Harry surprise, the marble bust rotated on its pedestal and glanced over the tired and nervous students gathered around it and gave a sniff of disproval before it opened its mouth and spoke. "Such a ragtag bunch of enfants I have ever seen. Very well, you may begin."

"This is Monsieur Moreau; he guards the entrance to our common room. In order to gain entrance you must give him the correct answer to the riddle or question he asks you. At the moment, because you are first years, his questions and riddles will be fairly simple but as you move onto the next year they will become more difficult. You will also never be asked the same question twice, each time you approach Monsieur Moreau he will ask you a different question – even if he saw you exit the entrance five minutes earlier. For security reasons, after tonight, no more than one or two people may enter the passageway at a time – this is to prevent people from the other houses from sneaking into our common room. The only exception to that rule is during school wide emergencies. If you fail to answer your riddle correction, you must wait another five minutes and try again. Are there any questions? No, then listen closely to Monsieur Moreau's Riddle."

"The more of these you take the more you leave behind."

"Please think carefully before you blurt out an answer, as normally you will only have one chance to answer the question. Tonight, because this is will be your first night in the tower, there will be three chances to give the correct answer. When you think you know the answer, raise your hand."

Three hands shot into the air immediately and Lucy selected the rather stout and pimple faced girl by the name of Mandy Brocklehurst who gave the answer of; "Thoughts."

"Wrong!" The bust called out with a disgusted sneer. "One would have expected those sorted into the one house that treasures intelligence to actually be intelligent."

Mandy's eyes filled with tears as she shrunk back away from the animated bust and the other two kids that had their hands in the air lowered them and stepped back as well, their unspoken answers obviously very similar to Mandy's. Harry thought he knew the answer but he'd never been particularly fond of riddles unless they were firmly based upon logic. He patiently waited for one of the other new Ravenclaws to offer an answer until, after three more minutes of nervous silence; he realized that no one else felt brave enough to speak their thoughts on the matter because of the cutting remarks of the magical statue. Sighing, he stepped forward and raised his hand to catch the two prefects' attention to signify that he'd be willing to take the risk of being insulted.

"The answer is footsteps," Harry announced once he had permission to speak.

"Correct, next time speak up sooner or you shall appear as dunderheaded as the rest of your peers."

A loud clicking sound reverberated through the hallway as a section of the wall just to the left of the statue swung inwards to reveal a staircase leading up into the tower. Harry hovered at the back of the small crowd as his classmates slunk past the caustic bust of Monsieur Moreau as he felt the burning need to insult the bust in return. When it was just him and the male prefect that had earlier tried to confiscate his satchel, Harry approached the bust with a blank face and leaned close so he could whisper, "Cruelty for cruelty's sake does nothing but paint you with the image of a bully. We are paying good money to this school to learn, not to be insulted by crotchety old blocks of stone."

"An individual must learn to cope with the harsh side of reality if they are to survive in this world," Moreau snapped viciously as he glared at back at Harry. "You'd best keep that in mind, _boy_."

"**Call me 'boy' again and you will be nothing more than a pile of dust,**" Harry hissed angrily as his magic flared at being addressed by that hated word; the pain he associated with it seared into his soul despite the twelve years time that had passed since he'd last been forced to face his 'relatives'. "**And you would do best to remember that no matter how harsh the world is outside these walls, inside it is a school of learning. Children are not always treated as the treasures they are before they arrive at this institution and you would do well to remember that some children have suffered far too much at the hands of those meant to teach and care for them. Be wary, for one day you will go too far and you will bring one child's anger down on your head if you don't curb your vitriol and you shall cease to exist.**"

The statue visibly quaked on its pedestal as the tendrils of Harry's magic lashed out at it in anger. A heartbeat later, Harry vanished through the still open passageway leaving behind a confused prefect who had no memory of the recent confrontation and a terrified magical bust, imbued with the spirit and personality of the wizard it had been named after, fighting his own acerbic nature as it digested the promise that had just been delivered. A promise that threatened the only thing the statue had that it valued; it's semblance of life.

Harry was halfway up the stairs before he was once more aware of his surroundings and he slowed his forward momentum as it slowly dawned on him that he couldn't account for the time in between rebuking the statue for its insults and climbing up the stairs. The blank spaces in his mind bothered him greatly, as there was no way for him to recall what had happened during the missing moment. He knew, from recent conversations with his father, that witnesses during those moments usually suffered the same form of memory loss that he did, the only two exceptions he knew of were a pair of incidents that his father had been witness to. They weren't certain if the people who triggered the incidents retained their memories of whatever was said since they'd not really had an opportunity to ask.

He had just stepped off the last stair and moved into a room that looked like a combination library and study when the male prefect finally caught up to him and Harry tensed for a moment as he half expected the younger boy to say something to him. When the other teen just headed right over to his friends, Harry relaxed a bit and took the time to get a better look at the Ravenclaw Common Room. The room was octagonal in shape, due to being located in one of the towers, and four of the eight walls were covered with floor to ceiling shelves filled with books, magazines, newspapers, and scrolls. Two of the other walls both had a pair of doors set into the stone with a short flight of stairs leading up to the next level where two more doors and another stair case sat located going up to yet another level. There were a total of seven levels (not including the bottom most floor), twenty eight doors, and fourteen stairs cases. The wall between the two walls with the staircases (which Harry would later learn led to the dormitories) held a huge fireplace bracketed by identical bronze eagles with out stretched wings, grasping what looked like scrolls in their claws.

The final wall (directly opposite of the fireplace), which Harry had just walked through, had a huge archway that led to the stairwell down to the tower exit. Just to the left of the door was a tall ivory statue of a lovely witch dressed in clinging robes wearing what looked like a simple but elegant diadem. Looking up, one could just make out the rather plain ceiling and the tops of the book shelves eight stories above.

Scattered about in the middle of the room were seven large, round mahogany tables that were each partitioned into eleven sections. The ten sections along the outer edge of the table were somewhat square in shape and exactly the same size with short walls separating each one from its two neighbors while the final section in the middle was a circle that could be accessed by each of the outer sections. Positioned in front of each cubicle was a single chair with what looked like a luggage rack underneath. Lucy was standing by the table farthest away from the entrance with the other first years carefully explaining the function of what she called the 'Study Center'. Harry moved forward on silent feet so he could listen into the conversation as he pushed his recent blackout into the back of his mind.

"This table is where you will study for upcoming exams and complete all homework assigned to you, with the exception of the time you spend in the main Hogwarts' library. The book rack beneath the chair is designed to hold all of your assigned books for all of your classes and it is recommended that you store them there when you aren't required to take them to class so that they are easy to find when you need them. You don't have to worry about another student taking your books or other belongings from your assigned seats because of the protective magics layered over both the tables and the chairs. We take our studies seriously in this house and students caught interfering with another student's ability to complete their assignments will be harshly punished by our prefects and head of house."

"If you'll each have a seat somewhere around the table," Lucy paused here to allow time for the first years to find a seat. "Some of you might have noticed a slight shock the moment you sat down, that was the ward for your new station locking onto your magical signature so it can recognize you the next time you sit down. Now, beneath the table edge, you will find a thin drawer, go a head and pull it open. You should immediately notice that the inside is far larger than the outside, this is due to the expansion charms that were placed upon the drawer when it was made. The individual sections are designed to hold quills, parchment, envelopes, ink bottles, and other various tools and materials you may need. Auto-sort charms help keep the drawer organized so that anything you toss in the drawer will automatically be shunted to the proper cubby."

"The last feature of the Study Center is what we call the Round Return. Any book barrowed from our common room library or the main Hogwarts' library that is placed in the middle most section of the table will automatically be returned to its proper place the moment you let go of it. Personal books that are accidentally placed in the Return will be transported back to the book rack under your chair. Any stray parchments or other items will be sent to the rubbish bin if they are placed in the Return, so please be extra careful of what you shove into the middle of the table. Anything binned can be considered irretrievable as the bins regularly incinerate rubbish every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday."

"What about pets that jump up there by mistake?"

"Good question. Pets, and other living creatures, are prevented from actually entering the Round Return by special wards that, when activated, will bounce the person or animal attempting to climb into the Return off the table completely. There are also aversion wards layered over the table's surface to discourage animals from climbing onto the table in the first place. Are there any other questions? No? Good, please take out the single scrap of parchment currently in your supply drawer. Threaded through the parchment you will find a silver needle, please free the needle from the parchment and carefully stab your thumb deep enough to draw blood."

"Once you have a large drop of blood on your thumb, place the needle in the Round Return and press your bleeding thumb to the right hand corner of the parchment stripe. At the same time, call out your first name or a favored nickname, and your last name. When you feel the paper warm beneath your thumb, lift your finger and apply the parchment to the backside of your chair. It will stick automatically and in the morning it will display the name you provided."

Many of the eleven year olds were more than a little squeamish about jabbing a sharp needle into their thumb, especially the muggleborns who had no knowledge of blood based spells and wards. Harry on the other hand, after dealing with young and wild Pokémon for years, had no trouble doing as instructed. This left him ample opportunity to study his peers unobserved. There were nine additional first years, not counting himself, four other boys and five girls. Two of the boys were giving disdainful looks to the rest of the group and Harry immediately categorized them as snobs in his mind. The girls all seemed relatively nice, if somewhat withdrawn and nervous as did the other two boys. Harry briefly wondered what the others thought of him but paid the notion no mind as he glanced around the room trying to get a read on some of the older students.

All too soon Harry's attention was drawn back to Lucy as she welcomed them as official Ravenclaws and bid them goodnight after explaining that their dorm rooms were up on the seventh floor (boys on the left and girls on the right). Harry suppressed a groan at the thought of climbing an additional seven flights of stairs just to reach his bed. Biting back a sarcastic comment about hazing the newbies, Harry reluctantly headed up the stairs along with the other boys.

At the top, he quickly entered the left most door and found a long hallway with five doors evenly spaced along the right side wall and another door at the end that he soon discovered led to a communal bathroom. Each of the side doors had brass plates with names etched into them. Harry found the door to his private room right smack in the middle of the hallway, which was rather perfect as it was an equal distance from both the bathroom and the exit. Inside he found a twin-sized four poster bed with blue and bronze bedding, a small desk and chair, a portable wardrobe, and a coat rack. Opposite the door was a small window that overlooked the lake. On the floor, was an intricately woven rug in shades of blues, bronzes, yellows, and browns. Lighting was provided by a hanging candelabra filled with unscented white candles that had flickered to life the moment he stepped inside.

It was a nice room, if a bit more opulent than Harry preferred. He wondered why there was a desk inside the room though when the prefect stressed that all studying was meant to take place down in what she termed the common room. He supposed that some people liked to have a little more privacy when working on a project or writing a letter. Harry was also a bit surprised to find his trunk waiting for him on the bed, while not unexpected, he had been unsure if whoever was delivering his luggage would know which trunk was his since his name wasn't labeled anywhere on the outside.

"Must be magic," Harry muttered as he set the trunk on the floor under the bed while he took off his book bag and released the two stow-a-ways from their makeshift prison. "Behave yourselves and try not to make too much noise," He ordered as he unpacked his toiletries and got out a pair of pajamas for the night, taking the time to set aside the robes and clothes that the eevees had soiled during their stay in his trunk so they could be dealt with first thing in the morning (once he knew where to take the laundry).

Just before he climbed into bed for the night, Harry wrote out a second letter for his dad. This time he talked about the sorting ceremony, the behavior of his peers (again), and the missing time after he admonished the guardian statue that protected their portion of the castle. He took care to explain as much as he remembered about the incident, including the fact that the statue had called him 'boy'. At the end, he reminded his father to send the Pokémon food for the eevee and to add some bottled water and sports drinks because he didn't care for the school's selections.

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><p><strong>Translations:<strong> French to English

Enfants = children

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>_I know there are probably some readers disappointed that Harry went to Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor to clash directly with his clone or Slytherin to buddy up with Malfoy or even Hufflepuff for whatever reason but Harry I felt that my Harry is better suited to Ravenclaw. He is far more advanced academically than the other first years due to his extra years of schooling and he has a far greater need to learn (both for personal reasons and in order to accomplish his 'task'. I also didn't want him to be forced to be placed into direct confrontation with his clone too soon and he didn't want to go into Gryffindor because Hermione had gone there. _

_Now, Hermione isn't a bad person and she's not cruel; she's just pushy, a touch rude because she's out of her comfort zone, and she knows she's smart so she thinks she's always right. Harry recognizes that in her and he wishes to avoid her now because he doesn't want to have to put up with it regularly. Will she always be that way? Most likely not, as she'll have to grow up sometime and make an effort to change her attitude or she'll forever be alone. _

_Malfoy… sorry to say the real Harry isn't going to be friends with the Malfoy scion. Draco is far more immature than any of the other first years bar maybe Ron. Draco won't give a rat's behind about the real Harry either because he'll be focused on the Potter Clone and the Weasley/Malfoy feud thing that seems to always be present. And while Harry is sort of hiding himself and he has ambition he isn't really cut out for Slytherin because Harry has firmly embraced technology and the Muggle way of life and the Slytherins would harass him for it. _

_As for why not Hufflepuff? Sure, Harry is loyal to his father and his Pokémon but he's not going to be loyal to the school or to Dumbledore or to the wizarding world and the Puff's would see that as a betrayal; remember his reaction to Sprout's insistence that all magicals were better off staying in the magical world and how it conflicts with his burning desire to go home. _

_Okay… I think that is everything major out of the way… I will warn you now that the next two or three chapters are going to drag out a bit as there is much happening in a very short amount of time and I couldn't fit it all in one chapter. After that, things will move along fairly quickly. Oh… and for those of you who are upset about Harry's reactions to being called 'boy' please remember that his early childhood was very traumatic and his reactions aren't exactly what you think they are but they won't be fully explained until year two. _

_Also, what Harry suffered through during his years with the Dursleys can't ever be completely erased though he has overcome quite a bit. I really dislike it when people make Harry do a complete turn around after putting him through hell for several years… or even all ten years if he stays with the Dursleys until Hogwarts. No one just forgets the terrible things they deal with in life and while over time the pain does ease and the nightmares can fade there are ingrained habits that rarely ever die. At least that is __**my**__ personal experience. As to Harry, don't forget he has just been thrust back into the world where he suffered most so he will show some signs of regression until he comes to terms with that knowledge and his surroundings. _

_Aright… I've said enough… as always thank you so much for the reviews. I've tried to make certain everyone's questions have been answered either in the story or in a reply but if I've not answered you yet it is because the answer is critical to the story or plot; such as what will happen to the two eevee now that they've arrived at Hogwarts. All will become apparent soon… (in 3-5 chapters). ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	8. Off to a Rocky Start

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 8: Off to a Rocky Start<span>_

_Monday Morning, September 02, 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

Harry was up at a quarter till six the next morning. He'd never had an easy time sleeping in strange rooms and his glorified cubby in the Ravenclaw tower was completely unfamiliar to him. On the flip side, the pair of eevee had managed to make themselves comfortable on the floor of the wardrobe where they'd pulled the sweater Harry had worn during the train ride the day before out of his book bag to use as a bed – they were currently still sleeping curled up with one another with just their tail-tips poking out the door.

Knowing he had nearly an hour before he was due to meet with the other first years and the sixth year prefects in the common room, Harry took the time to unpack his trunk and satchel. His school books and writing supplies were set aside on his desk along with his other equipment while he hung his clothes up in the wardrobe on the hangers provided – being careful not to disturb the sleeping Pokémon. His art supplies were sorted into the drawers of the desk while his non-school related books were placed into a small recessed book shelf seen just above the desk that he'd not noticed the night before. That was also where he stored the basket of berries he'd brought. Finally, he placed Mule's second perch over by the window and released the catch on the window so he could leave it open a crack in the event that the owl turned up at his room looking for him while he was out. On the floor below the perch, he placed a two foot by three foot collapsible tray designed to catch waste and spilled food.

Next, he gathered the uniform he'd worn the night before (which he noticed now sported blue trim and the Ravenclaw coat of arms on the left breast), a fresh change of clothes, and his toiletry kit before heading down the hall to the bathroom. Like the dormitory, the bathroom had been divided into five sections along one wall. In each section there was a toilet, shower, sink, clothes hamper, and mirrored medicine cabinet. Once again his name was posted on a plaque on the middle door. More than pleased over this small bit of extended privacy (something Harry took very seriously), Harry promptly put away his tooth brush, tooth paste, mouth wash, comb, and hair brush in the cabinet and his shampoo, conditioner, soap, and wash cloth in the shower.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was showered and dressed for the day in his school uniform. Following instructions posted on the wall above the rather ordinary looking clothes hamper, Harry tossed his dirty clothes from the day before into the basket and was a bit surprised when he could hear the gurgling sound of water coming from inside the wicker contraption. Shortly after that it made the whirring sound of a hair dryer before it opened on its own accord and spit his now clean and neatly folded clothes out at him. Amazed and flabbergasted at the concept of a magical automatic washer and dryer combination, Harry wandered back to his room in a bit of a daze. He then caught sight of the clothes the two eevee had soiled during their sojourn in his trunk and quickly gathered them up and took them to the bathroom to send them through the hamper as well; pleased to note that the magic had no problems removing the smell entirely.

A brief glimpse at his watch told him he only had about eight minutes before he was due in the common room, so he quickly dumped his recently cleaned clothes on the bed. Next he sliced up a couple of the berries from the basket, placed the slices on a napkin left over from yesterday's lunch, and set the food on the floor near the wardrobe for the eevee when they woke. He then trotted back to his bathroom and filled his empty sports bottle full of water from the faucet in the event that they didn't provide anything other than pumpkin juice during breakfast. Not remembering if he'd been told to bring his books with him or not, he quickly tossed his text books into his satchel along with two thirds of his writing supplies. He then slung the bag over his shoulder and headed towards the staircase.

He made it down to the common room floor with barely a minute to spare and found himself alone but for the two sixth year prefects. The prefects seemed surprised and pleased that he was on time and told him to have a seat at his cubicle while they waited for the others. Harry took the opportunity to put most of his writing supplies in his cubby drawer and after a moment's debate his books on the book rack under his chair. Five minutes later, his fellow first years stumbled down off the stairs looking still half asleep as the two sixth year prefects grinned manically at the students who had overslept on the first day. The fact that Harry was the only one on time didn't endear him to his peers but Harry didn't really care if he annoyed them.

He was here to learn, not make bosom buddies with children six years younger than him. Sure, making a few new friends would be nice but his main objective was to learn what he needed to know to complete the task that Hypno (and now the sorting hat) had hinted at before dedicating his time to finding a way back home for him and his father in case he couldn't draw another working door. He still hoped he could just 'draw' a new door with what remained of his 'special' crayon but until he tried it during the Christmas holidays he wouldn't know for sure if it would work or not. There was also the possibility that returning too soon would lock him back in his home world and bring about the destruction Hypno had warned him about the last time he saw the mystic Pokémon.

Once all ten of them were there, the two prefects handed the first years their class schedules and a parchment of written directions that would lead them to the Great Hall and each of their classrooms. They were then reminded about the password riddle, admonished to behave in all of their classes, and warned not to wander out of bounds. About this time the rest of the older students began passing through the common room on their way to breakfast. The first years gamely fell into step behind their older housemates so as not to get lost on their first unsupervised trip through the castle hallways.

The trip down to the main floor of the castle was far shorter this morning than it had been the previous night and in Harry's mind, this (along with the slightly different route down) confirmed his thoughts about being led on a roundabout route the night before. He just couldn't figure out if it was intentionally malicious or a matter of tradition to allow the older students a chance to get to their tower before the firsties blocked the statue learning about their password system. After thinking about it for a time, he decided to withhold judgment until he had a chance to see the process as a returning student. They reached the Great Hall just as the bell signaling the start of breakfast rang throughout the castle halls. As he entered the large room, Harry noted the fact that only a handful of older students from each of the other three houses arrived at the same time as the majority of the Ravenclaws but otherwise paid no attention to the other students as he sat down at the very end of the Ravenclaw table closest to the staff table and took stock of the variety of breakfast dishes available.

Unlike the food from the fest the night before, most of the dishes weren't that heavy though there were nearly as many sugary confections offered as there had been desserts after the feast the night before. Avoiding the sweets and pastries, Harry grabbed a couple slices of toast, a scoop of scrambled eggs, and a couple pieces of sliced ham. He searched briefly for any fresh fruit but was unable to find any on the table in his immediate area. Nor did he find any beverage other than the sickly sweet pumpkin juice being offered. Resigned to his rather bland breakfast, Harry pulled out his bottle of water and reluctantly dug into the food. It wasn't that the food was horrible, far from it in fact, it was just that the meal lacked a selection of the unsweetened drinks and more non sugary foods than he was used to having at nearly every meal. He was just cutting of a chunk of ham from the slice on his plate with one of the seventh year prefects tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me; I'm going to have to confiscate your contraband."

"Beg your pardon?" Harry countered politely.

"Your unsanctioned bottle of water – you're not supposed to bring outside food and drinks into the school. Exceptions are, of course, made for homemade treats and wizarding candies that can be purchased in Hogsmeade but you can't bring in bottled water."

"That makes no sense, what am I supposed to drink then?"

"Pumpkin juice, like everyone else."

"I can't," Harry pointed out.

"Yes, you can. Just pour a glass and drink. It's real simple. Or are you suffering from brain damage?" The prefect sneered as he reached over Harry's shoulder to take the bottle in question.

"Like I told one of the other prefects last night, I have to have the water for health reasons because the pumpkin juice has too much sugar in it. I refuse to risk my life over some stupid rule that doesn't take into consideration my personal health," Harry snapped back waspishly as he grabbed his water and tucked it into his bag.

"Health? What bullsh…" the seventh year started as he reached for his wand.

"Language, Mr. Quimby," a short wizard in gray and blue robes (whom Harry recognized as Professor Flitwick, his Head of House) admonished as he approached Harry's seat. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"This firstie refuses to relinquish the banned item in his possession and he was becoming belligerent with me."

"Is this true, Mister…?"

"Ketchum. And no, it's not exactly true. As I was explaining to… this prefect, and as I informed another prefect last night, I can't drink (or eat) an excessive amount of sugary sweets and since I worried there would not be any water or other alternative sugar free drink offered other than the pumpkin juice, I brought my own. My housemate obviously didn't think I was serious when I told him drinking the pumpkin juice would be devastating on my health and he grew agitated when I refused to hand over my water – admittedly I said the rule about outside food and drinks not being permitted within Hogwarts was stupid but I don't feel having an opinion should be grounds for being labeled as belligerent."

"Mr. Quimby, please return to your seat, I will handle this," Flitwick instructed the mutinous prefect. "And we will be speaking later on appropriate responses when dealing with younger students tonight in my office at six thirty."

"Yes, sir, Professor Flitwick."

Harry watched the other boy stalk back down the table and sighed, he knew the boy would come looking for retribution over the confrontation either later tonight or later in the week. He wished he could have brought Trickster with him to the castle; his oldest friend and Pokémon was extremely adept at covering his back when things became sticky.

"Now, Mr. Ketchum, can you please explain the health issues you mentioned a little more clearly, I'm afraid I am at a loss as to what kind of condition you must suffer from to avoid most if not all sweets."

"Of course, sir," Harry capitulated reluctantly, "but would it be possible to discuss this somewhere privately? I'd really rather not have my personal life on display for all of my classmates."

"Oh, how thoughtless of me," Professor Flitwick squeaked as he flushed in embarrassment. "I believe your first class this morning is Charms, is it not?"

"I think so."

"Quite right, once you have finished eating, and gathered your books and equipment for the morning, come to my office before class and we can discuss this there."

"Thank you, Professor, I'm almost done now."

"Good, good, I'll be waiting for you. You have received the parchment of directions for navigating the castle correct?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed.

"Then I shall see you shortly."

Harry nodded and set his fork down on the plate as his appetite fled. He never cared to discuss his health, and therefore his past, with virtual strangers. He was about to just leave his half eaten breakfast when he caught sight of the ham out of the corner of his eye and immediately thought of his two friends locked up in his room in the tower. Grabbing a napkin from the table, he grabbed both slices of untouched (and unbuttered) toast and set them in the napkin before folding over the remaining two and two thirds slices of ham and sticking them in-between the two slices. He then wrapped the leftovers up in the napkin and placed the bundle into his satchel beside his water bottle.

A glance at the staff table let him know that Flitwick was aware of his actions as the diminutive teacher nodded when their eyes met. Resigned to the upcoming difficult discussion, he pushed away from the table and began jogging towards the doors leading out of the Great Hall. He was nearly to the end of the table when he saw a robe clad leg thrust out practically under his feet. Only years of practice dodging seven excitable and often underfoot eevee allowed Harry to effortlessly step over the offending limb without tripping. Unsurprisingly, the leg belonged to the prefect that had confronted him just a short while ago and Harry rolled his eyes at the childish attempt to catch him off guard. Without bothering to stop or acknowledge the older student, Harry continued on his way out and soon vanished into the castle proper.

Only once did Harry get lost on his way back to Ravenclaw Tower. He'd missed his turn due to a suit of armor taking a five minute break away from its usual position. When he backtracked, he found the suit noisily stepping back up onto its stand and Harry had to shake his head at the oddness of going to school in a living castle. After that, it didn't take him long to reach the statue of Monsieur Moreau who seemed rather leery of Harry for some reason. It took Harry a moment to recall his blackout from the night before but before he could offer an apology for whatever it was he'd done or said; the statue courteously gave him a new riddle.

Compared to the one offered the night before, this one was easy and Harry barely had to give the puzzle a few seconds thought before he was passing through the hidden doorway onto the stairs that led up to his common room. He then ran as fast as he was able up the stairs to the top floor. A couple of minutes later, he was bowled over by two whimpering eevee. He wasn't sure what had startled the two Pokémon but he really didn't have the time to figure it out or search for clues since Professor Flitwick was expecting him. He tried offering the ham and toast he brought up but they were far too anxious to eat.

Unwilling to leave them behind in such a state he simply put the food back into his satchel before picking up both creatures so he could tuck them into the bag as well. He gave them a soft spoken command to be quiet and behave, before he headed back down to the common room to grab his books for his morning classes. On a whim, as he passed by his desk, he grabbed one of his sketchbooks and his drawing pencils. Back down in the common room, he was just leaning down to gather his text books when he felt someone shove him from behind. Without looking he knew who was responsible, there was only one individual who'd be interested in knocking him about right now and have a reason to do so.

"Quimby," Harry uttered in an even tone as he gently picked himself up off the floor and set his satchel on his chair to protect the eevee inside. "Somehow I'm not surprised you chose to follow me up here."

"Damn straight I followed you up here. I owe you one for making me look the fool in front of our Head of House."

"You do realize that Professor Flitwick is expecting me in his classroom any minute now, right?" Harry calmly pointed out as he turned to face the older boy. "It's the reason I left breakfast early, because he wants to speak with me before class starts."

"I'll just have to tell him that you were skiving off your meeting with him then, won't I?"

Harry's blood went cold as the prefect drew his wand and stepped closer, crowding Harry up against the back of his chair which was itself backed up against the table. His own wand was still tied up in its box in the front pocket of his satchel and there was no way he could get it before the seventh year hit him with whatever spell he was planning on using. Not that he knew any counter spells anyway; this was his first day of class after all (sure he'd read his books but he'd not really practiced any spells).

"What? No smart mouthed comebacks? Not so brave now are you? No, you're nothing more than a pathetic little boy, aren't you?" Quimby sneered as he got right in Harry's face.

For a brief second Harry felt abject fear as Quimby's face was superimposed by the memory of his uncle's face. The fear was washed away quickly though by a white hot rage before it had a chance to take root as Harry's consciousness blacked out while the magic inside of him overflowed.

"**You call me pathetic but you are the one bullying a first year student,**" Harry's voice calmly intoned in contrast to the towering rage displayed on his face without his knowledge.

"Knock it off you little runt!"

"**Does it frighten you to see what your victims see when you bully them?**"

"If you don't stop it right now I'm going to… to…" Quimby stuttered as he stumbled backwards away from what he thought was just a mere eleven year old.

"**Going to what? Hex me? Curse me? Beat me to a pulp like you did any number of other helpless children younger than you? Does it make you feel manly to bully those smaller and weaker then you? Does it make you feel powerful to see those you consider beneath you cower in fear? Do you like who you see in the mirror after you're done making little children cry?**"

"Shut up! SHUT up! SHUT UP!" Quimby roared out as he dropped his wand and began punching Harry. He only managed to land two direct hits on his target though as no less then three full body binds hit the seventh year, knocking both Harry and Quimby onto the floor, before three pairs of arms lifted him off of Harry.

When Harry next became aware of his surroundings, the entire left side of his face was throbbing and he was lying awkwardly sprawled out beside the chair where his book bag was sitting, two worried pairs of eyes peeking out from inside of said bag. Off to one side he could hear Lucy, the fifth year prefect he'd met the night before, speaking to someone he couldn't see.

"I saw him following the first year after trying to trip the younger boy on his way out of the Great Hall and hurried after them because Quimby looked to be in one of his moods. I arrived just in time to hear the younger kid tell Quimby he was supposed to meet with you before class and for some reason Quimby just exploded. I don't understand it, he flung his wand away and started yelling at the first year to shut up but the firstie wasn't saying anything. And the next thing I know Quimby starts punching the kid in the face. I petrified him with the help of Bradley and Chambers but not before Quimby managed to get in a couple of hits."

"Thank you, Prefect Carmichael, and thank you for protecting Mr. Ketchum. Please go let the rest of the students in so they can prepare for their morning classes. When you are finished, I would appreciate it if you were to escort Mr. Ketchum to the Hospital Wing to for healing while I deal with Mr. Quimby."

"Yes, Professor Flitwick."

"I should be alright, professor," Harry countered as he slowly righted himself. "I would really rather not miss class over something as trivial as a bruise."

He must have startled both the prefect and his professor as the two of them jumped and cried out as they caught sight of him swaying on his feet. On the floor, just to the left of the professor, was the prone form of the older prefect. The older boy seemed oddly stiff and unmoving while his eyes held both anger and fear.

"It's far more than just a 'trivial bruise' Mr. Ketchum," Flitwick countered once he composed himself. "Even if it were just a bruise, I'd insist you visit Madam Pomfrey to have it taken care of. Now, I don't want to hear any more complaints or arguments on the matter. If, and I do mean if, Madam Pomfrey releases you in time to attend any of today's classes you may of course attend. Otherwise you can obtain make up work and notes from today's lectures from your teachers once you are released from the hospital wing."

Harry frowned but didn't feel there was a point in arguing with his Head of House over something so inconsequential. By this time, Lucy had returned from unlocking the entrance and a veritable flood of babbling students poured into the common room. Unfortunately, the moment said students caught sight of Harry; they fell silent for a full minute before breaking out into furious whispers as they cast sideways glances in his direction. Growling internally at the thought of being the subject of the local rumor mill on what still basically amounted to his first day, Harry studiously ignored the pointed stares and hushed questions as he painstakingly gathered his books from under his chair and placed them inside his book bag.

Stubbornly, Harry slung the strap of his bag across his shoulder and wove his way to the exit without waiting for Miss Carmichael to help him. The older girl finally caught up to him as he reached the end of the hallway where the entrance of their tower was located.

"I guess I owe you an apology," Lucy ventured after a moment.

"Why? If not for you, chances are I'd have been beaten to a bloody pulp according to what I overheard you telling Professor Flitwick. If anything, I'm in your debt for coming to my rescue."

"I should have stopped him before he hit you."

"Did you know he was going to punch me?" Harry asked as he stopped in his tracks and swayed a bit as he stared slightly up and over at Lucy.

"No, but I knew he had a reputation for bullying younger kids and a short fuse."

"But you still didn't know how he was going to react. If anyone is at fault, I am, for trying to argue with a prefect over a bottle of water at the breakfast table. I could have just allowed him to confiscate the stupid thing and then taken the matter up with Professor Flitwick in private. My father tells me I'm stubborn to a fault though and worse than a pack of houn…ds with a bone."

"That may be; but he had no business drawing his wand on you or hitting you like he did."

Harry just shrugged and wobbled on his feet at the motion upset his already precarious sense of balance. Before he toppled over though, he felt Lucy grab his arm to steady him. The unexpected touch made him stiffen and flinch unconsciously, a left over reflex from his early years, but if the girl noticed she at least had the tact not to mention it. Once he was no longer in danger of falling over, Harry gave the prefect a self depreciating smile as she continued to support him as they started walking once more.

As they continued on in silence, Harry mentally berated himself for allowing himself to be caught off guard while he made a valiant effort to avoid going into a panic attack since she apparently wasn't going to let him go. He had grown to mostly accept and tolerate limited physical contact from people he knew in passing but he still felt extremely uncomfortable with extended close contact by anyone not in his immediate family. In fact, virtual strangers invading his personal bubble unexpectedly had a tendency to make him so anxious that he would freeze up. To avoid such incidents, he usually avoided large crowds and made an effort to always watch the hands and feet of those people nearest him so as not to be caught off guard when someone touched him, especially if they intended to physically restrain him in any way.

To have someone grab hold of him unexpectedly, especially when he was already dazed from the recent blows to the head and the blackout preceding it, was enough to break the rigid control he kept on his emotions. With each second her hand remained on his arm, his ability to control the growing panic slipped just a little more. His breathing rate was the first thing affected, as he slowly began to hyperventilate until he realized what he was doing and immediately took it to the other extreme by trying to hold his breath. As he struggled to escape the feeling of being trapped he unconsciously began trying to put more distance between himself and the girl walking beside him; this of course was pretty much ineffective due to her firm grip on his upper arm.

The terror spell was broken by their sudden arrival at the Hospital Wing, when Lucy effectively manhandled him into the nearest bed while she hurried off to get Madam Pomfrey. Embarrassed by his own behavior and loss of control, Harry buried his face in his hands unmindful of his injuries. Once he got his emotions under control, he looked up to thank Lucy for her help only to find she had left without saying goodbye. He was half out of bed, intent on going after her to apologize for his social blunder, when he was approached by a no-nonsense witch carrying several vials filled with various potions and ointments.

"You just park yourself right back in that bed, young man," the woman ordered as she set her burden down on a small table next to the bed. "Let's take a look and see what we have here, Miss Carmichael seemed to think you were going into shock."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Next chapter will play out the conclusion to Harry's first day… and Ash's response to Harry's first letter. ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	9. Sheer Stubbornness

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 9: Sheer Stubbornness<span>_

_Monday Morning, September 02, 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

Harry endured a rather trying magical scan as the nurse checked his entire body for any sign of hidden injuries. As she worked, she muttered her findings under her breath, "Left eye black and swollen, bruised cheek bone, hairline crack in the same cheek bone, minor abrasions, and several cuts from the destruction of your glasses… you're lucky not to have lost your eye Mister…"

"Ketchum," Harry replied automatically as he tried to comprehend how bad he was injured according to the nurse. His face hurt, he'd known that from the moment he regained awareness, but he hadn't thought it was that bad.

"Mr. Ketchum," Madam Pomfrey repeated before jumping right back into her monologue. "As I was saying your lucky the eye wasn't damaged by your broken frames or by whoever it was that punched you. If your friend hadn't told me that Professor Flitwick was handling the incident I'd be of half a mind to give you detention for fighting! On the first day of classes too!"

Harry snorted as he jerked his face away from her hands as she reached for him and glared up at the startled healer. "I wasn't fighting; I was being bullied by a seventh year prefect. He supposedly punched me but I don't remember him actually hitting me. If you're finished examining me, I'd like to go to class now."

"You aren't going any where just yet; I need to heal the fracture and other injuries first."

"Oh," Harry said as he felt his irritation fade just a touch. "I'd rather let it heal naturally, if it's all the same."

"Nonsense, I will have you fixed up in a matter of seconds."

"Er, has my father been notified of my injury? Has he given his permission for you to treat me? I don't recall seeing a Medical Authorization Release Form in all the paperwork we filled out prior to my acceptance. Have you already consulted my family physician regarding my injuries? As far as I know, you are required by law to contact my doctor before beginning any treatments except in the event of a life threatening emergency. I really don't feel comfortable with you continuing without at least speaking to my doctor. I'd also like my dad here during the procedure as he is the only one other than my doctor that is fully aware of my… my medical condition. I was supposed to speak to Professor Flitwick about that this morning but I was ambushed in my common room quite unexpectedly."

Madam Pomfrey seemed to have developed a migraine by the time Harry finished rattling off what his father secretly termed his Medical Aversion Response. It was another of those ingrained responses to dealing with strangers getting far too close for comfort, this particular type of response was strictly reserved for all medical personnel that he didn't know and was designed to annoy them to the point that they left him alone. Unfortunately for Madam Pomfrey, Harry was still on the rebound from his recent anxiety attack and in full blown self-preservation mode – meaning he wasn't going to let anyone touch him if he could help it.

"You need to calm down, Mr. Ketchum," Madam Pomfrey commanded when he didn't have anything further to say. "I realize you are new to Hogwarts but you need to understand that medical treatment while you are here doesn't work the same way it does while you are in the muggle world. And while your father will be notified that you were injured in an altercation with another student, he most likely won't receive the message until long after you have been healed. Wouldn't you rather have the injuries healed so you aren't in any pain?"

"I'd much rather be in class," Harry countered stubbornly as he shifted further out of Madam Pomfrey's reach.

The healer studied Harry for several long minutes, her gaze calculating as she took in his defensive posture. She eventually broke the silence with a soft sigh before addressing him once more. "Mr. Ketchum, what would it take for you to allow me to treat your injuries?"

Suddenly Harry felt ashamed of his behavior. He was seventeen years old, even if he didn't look it, and here he was acting like a petulant child. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him but he suspected it had something to do with the confrontation with the seventh year, his most recent blackout, getting punched in the face, and suffering from a panic attack. It also didn't help that he was stressed out about being here; both at this school and in this world. Taking a deep breath, Harry made a conscious effort to calm his skittering emotions and relax.

"I apologize, ma'am," Harry finally answered once he felt he was in control once more. He briefly met her eyes before looking down at his hands as he tried to explain his behavior. "I'm afraid I reacted irrationally after everything else that happened this morning and I must have… I mean… I was in the midst of a panic attack when I got here. It sometimes takes me a while to realize what I'm doing when that happens. I don't get them very often but…" here Harry looked back up again before continuing, "but I don't like crowds of strangers and here I'm surrounded by them. If… if possible, can you please leave most of my injuries to heal on their own?"

"Why? To what purpose?"

"I honestly don't know how my… condition will react to any magical treatments, especially any medications you might give me."

"That's the second time you've mentioned a condition, what kind of condition are we talking about?"

"I was going to have this conversation with Professor Flitwick before class this morning, I dread having to go through it twice though. Is there any way we can wait to discuss it until he is available?" Harry hedged as he looked to avoid disclosing a part of his life he hated with a passion.

"Not if you are still adamant about attending most of your morning and afternoon classes."

Resigned, Harry cut himself off from his emotions and began speaking in a monotone, "My biological parents died when I was a baby and the family that took me in didn't treat me very well. I was… they were… unpleasant people and they did not want me. They would withhold basic care for any perceived slight and during the years I lived with them I never really received a single proper meal. They fed me what I later learned could be considered a prisoner's diet – bread, water, and the occasional chunk of dried cheese or bit of old, near rotten fruit."

Harry paused for a second as a haunted look flashed across his face for a brief instant as he gazed unseeingly at the wall on the other side of the room. "I eventually ran away from them. Unfortunately, because of the years of poor and overly bland food, I suffer from a type of diabetes. I'm not really a diabetic but eating or drinking high concentrations of sugar (especially processed sugars) can make me violently ill. Even too much natural sugar, like fructose, will make me sick. That's what started this whole sordid affair. A prefect, the one who later hit me, tried to confiscate my water because it was a 'banned' item at Hogwarts because I brought the bottle from home. It wouldn't much matter but the only beverage offered at meals so far has been the overly sweet pumpkin juice and the sip of it I tried last night made me nauseous."

"While that certainly sounds terrible, I don't understand what that has to do with treating your injuries."

"I'm concerned that some of the potions might have a higher sugar content than what my body can tolerate, even if it's just a natural derivative from one or more of the individual ingredients. It doesn't even have to be sweet for it to make me ill if there are enough monosaccharides or polysaccharides present in the tonic."

"How exactly did you reach that conclusion, Mr. Ketchum?"

"I purchased _The Definitive Encyclopedia of Potion Ingredients and their Magical Properties_ this summer when I was in Diagon Alley. While browsing through it, I noticed that a good number of healing potions require plant based ingredients and each of those plants has varying amounts of naturally occurring sugars on a cellular level. The right, or in this case, the wrong combinations of those plants in certain potions can be lethal to my condition if given in large enough doses. A prime example would be the blood replenisher I was given earlier this summer when I was injured; at the time just a few sips of the potion made me ill."

"Are you sure you're not just paranoid, Mr. Ketchum?"

"I may well be," Harry replied blithely, "but I am not willing to bet my health or my life just to find out; especially when it's over something as minor as a few scrapes and a bruise."

"Very well," Madam Pomfrey ground out as she threw her hands up in vexation. "I'm not going to argue with you any longer young man. You can take the matter up with your Head of House. You are not leaving this room until I've healed the worst of your injuries though."

"So long as you aren't using any potions that I have to ingest, I'm more then willing to cooperate," Harry calmly supplied as he moved to sit down on the bed properly so the healer could reach him a little easier.

Madam Pomfrey huffed in exasperation as she flicked her wand towards his face. He felt a rush of air as a spell connected with his skin before his face seemed to explode in flames. A heartbeat later, the majority of the pain he'd been feeling vanished as the hairline fracture was magically healed. She then used a couple more spells to seal the long cut made by his broken glasses before using a combination chilling spell and numbing spell to counteract any lingering pain and reduce the swelling. When she finished, she handed Harry his glasses (which she'd repaired with the flick of her wand) and imperiously ordered him out of her sight after giving him a note for Professor Flitwick.

Harry thanked her and apologized for his impertinence upon his arrival a second time before he gathered up his satchel and sprinted out of the room. If he hurried he would be able to sit in on the second half of his Charms lesson. His entrance, right in the middle of the lecture, caused more than a slight disturbance when most of his fellow first years caught sight of his face but Professor Flitwick wasted no time in bringing the class back under control before he ordered Harry to see him after class.

Ignoring the curious looks directed at him by those first years that had been sorted into the other three houses, Harry found a seat at an empty desk in the back and quickly pulled out his quill, ink, and a roll of parchment so he could take notes as Flitwick continued his lecture. Every once in a while, when Harry would look up from his parchment, he would catch several of the Gryffindors, his fellow Ravenclaws, and a few of the Slytherins watching him with outright loathing, smirking approval, or dazed confusion. The first two expressions were driving him crazy because he couldn't fathom the motive behind them while the looks of dazed confusion expressed his feelings near perfectly.

At the end of the lecture, Professor Flitwick asked several questions about the day's topic and Harry was pleased to discover that he hadn't really missed much while he was in the Hospital Ward. He even answered a couple questions from the earlier portion of the lecture and earned his first house points. Unfortunately, this single display of his intelligence earned him several glares from his fellow Ravenclaws and the bushy haired Gryffindor snob he'd had the displeasure of meeting on the train. Sighing over the pettiness of pre-teens; he packed up his belongings, gave the hidden eevee a few discrete affectionate pats, and headed up to the front of the room as the bell rang to signify the end of class.

"I thought I made it clear that you were to get your injuries treated, Mr. Ketchum?" Professor Flitwick questioned the moment they were alone.

"I did," Harry replied softly as he handed over the note Madam Pomfrey gave him to give to his professor. He then waited patiently while the diminutive wizard skimmed the short letter.

"I see," Flitwick intoned more seriously as he climbed down off his stack of books that allowed him to reach his teaching podium. "Tell me, Mr. Ketchum, why you felt it necessary to disrespect and then argue with Madam Pomfrey?"

"I hadn't meant to disrespect her, I'd been in the middle of an anxiety attack at the time due to everything that happened and I did apologize to her for that, twice," Harry explained. "And the arguing was due to the same problem that we were to talk about this morning before I was waylaid by that prefect. I tried to explain it to her but I'm not sure she fully understood."

"Why don't you briefly tell me what you told her, so we are all on the same page, and then I will arrange for the three of us to have a meeting regarding the situation after classes this afternoon?"

And so Harry repeated his highly edited account of his early life (without naming any names) and how it affected him to this day. He then went on to describe his concern and fear about ingesting potions due to the unknown sugars levels they could contain. He also noted his concern for the overly sugary diet that Hogwarts seemed to serve, based upon the two meals he'd sat through, but admitted he might be jumping to conclusions on that score because he hadn't seen all the dishes Hogwarts might offer at various meals.

"But my biggest concern," Harry added as he came to the end of his explanation, "Is the lack of drinking water or other low sugar drinks at meal times. The single sip of pumpkin juice I had last night, was enough to make me queasy. That is why I had brought the bottle of water with me to breakfast this morning."

"I have never heard of such a condition," Professor Flitwick admitted as he escorted Harry to the classroom door. "But it does give me food for thought. Right now, you are expected in your next class though and we will continue this discussion later. I think, in light of the issues you've raised, I'd like you to meet me outside the Great Hall after your last class of the morning. We will then see what we can do about securing you a more appropriate diet for your condition."

"Thank you, Professor Flitwick," Harry replied sincerely as he stepped out into the hallway and headed towards the Transfiguration classroom.

The rest of the morning passed by at a snail's pace. He earned more than his fair share of looks and stares from his professors and the other students, though the first years gradually became used to seeing his injuries after a few classes together. Professor Snape, the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House, even went so far as to take points for fighting in the hallways. When Harry tried to explain he wasn't fighting, the man took even more points for back talking, so he wisely said nothing further.

The rest of that class was spent listening to the irate man berate the Harry Potter imposter left and right. It was all Harry could do to control his temper in the face of the treatment as he knew perfectly well that vitriol was basically directed at him; even if he was only on the receiving end by proxy since no one other than the goblins knew who he really was. The entire scene nearly had him feeling a pang of sympathy for his imposter except for the fact that the boy was trying to pass himself off as the real Harry Potter.

The lunch time meeting with his Head of House, turned out to be a trip down to the kitchens where Harry was introduced to house elves for the first time. The poor creatures were extremely teary and apologetic when they learned about Harry's special dietary needs and were quick to agree to provide him with a lighter selection of dishes and something to drink other than pumpkin juice. Harry thanked them and made sure to compliment their cooking; in order to let them know he didn't blame them for him not being able to sample all of their hard work. This only caused more turmoil in the kitchen as the elves became flustered from the praise.

Flitwick then escorted Harry back to the Great Hall for lunch where he was promptly waylaid by Lucy Carmichael. The fifth year prefect gave him an earful about sneaking out of the hospital wing too soon and he in turn explained that it was just a bruise (he had no desire to tell her about his past or his condition) and that the worst of his injuries had already been healed. He also thanked her for escorting him to the hospital.

The rest of the day was nothing more than a blur as Harry attended his last two classes of the day. He was feeling exhausted and cranky as the numbing spell on his face had long since faded, allowing the lingering ache of the bruise to return. Thankfully he had a two hour free period on his schedule before dinner that would allow him to get a short nap. Unfortunately when he arrived back his common room, there was a note from Professor Flitwick instructing him to meet him at the hospital wing in an hour for their discussion with Madam Pomfrey.

He'd pretty much forgotten about that meeting and was not looking forward to what promised to be another difficult discussion. Resigned to the inevitable, Harry trudged up to his room so he could release the eevee from their confinement in his bag. He then headed to his assigned bathroom to have a shower and finally got a look at his face for the first time since that morning. He was more then a bit shocked to find the bruising much more extensive then he'd originally thought it was. His entire left eye was ringed by a dark bluish black bruise that extended up to his temple and down the length of his cheek bone where it faded to a nasty purple. It made him wonder how bad he'd looked before the school's nurse had healed it part way.

Once he was over the shock he jumped into the shower and washed away his weariness and frustration. Ten minutes later, he was back in his room, curled up on his bed with the two eevee, doodling in his sketchbook in an effort to center himself before his meeting. When he finally headed down to the common room on his way to the meeting, he was once more confronted by the stares (and glares) of his classmates who were sitting at their table working on their assignments. Harry did his best to simply ignore them.

In the hospital wing he found Professor Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey, and (quite unexpectedly) Professor McGonagall waiting for him. The three of them began to thoroughly dissect his medical history. Madam Pomfrey then attempted to dose him with a pain potion but Harry adamantly refused to drink it despite the frowns his Head of House and the Deputy Headmistress wore; even though he was obviously feeling the dull ache from the bruise.

The whole affair left Harry feeling disgruntled and out of sorts as he headed down to dinner only to find himself face to face with the prefect who had attacked him that morning. Harry felt a brief wave of… something… rise up inside him before he stubbornly shoved it down as he defiantly met the larger boy's gaze. For some reason, the older student (who in all actuality was about the same age as Harry, even if it didn't show) blanched as he stared down at Harry before he quickly backed out of Harry's way. Harry wrongly assumed the boy's reaction was due to something Professor Flitwick had done or said.

After supper, Harry returned to his room and found Mule perched on his desk with a letter and a small box. Harry immediately perked up at the thought of hearing from his dad, whom he greatly missed especially after the rough day he had. He quickly relieved his owl of both items before opening the letter first.

_Dear Harry,_

_I was sorry to hear the train ride wasn't the pleasant ride you had hoped it would  
>be. Do try to be patient with the other children though, you have to remember that<br>they are younger than you, and are therefore not as mature as you are._

_I am also not surprised that those two managed to sneak into your trunk when you  
>weren't looking. I think those two are more trouble then Trickster is at times. Do<br>you want me to make arrangements for them to come home? _

_I spoke to the goblins about the other matter you raised, since they are the ones that  
>brought it to our attention in the first place. They recommended that we do nothing<br>for the moment but keep an eye on him to see if we can uncover his motives for  
>impersonating you. <em>

_I've packed a small box with the items you requested. The goblins were nice enough  
>to enchant the box for me so that it had plenty of space inside and wasn't too heavy<br>for Mule. They only charged me a hand instead of an arm and a leg this time. The  
>goblins also provided a few other things they would be of use if you intend to keep<br>the pair of eevee with you. _

_Apparently it is something they'd begun working on the moment we'd made our desire  
>to avoid drawing attention to the Pokémon known to Ragnok the day we arrived. I<br>personally think that wily old goblin just likes taking our money from us even if most  
>things we purchase from them are either needed or extremely useful.<em>

_I miss you too, Sport. Take care of yourself and stay out of trouble, okay?_

_Love Dad._

Harry tucked the letter back into the envelope when he finished reading. He then set it aside so he could open the care package his father had sent him and found a short note attached to two simple black collars and a matching black ring, a large bag of poffins, thirty berries, and a dozen or so of his favorite power bars. The two collars, according to the short note attached to them, were for the two eevee and were woven with Notice-Me-Not and other protective charms that would prevent anyone from noticing the two decidedly un-catlike creatures. So long as he wore the ring, it would prevent the wards from affecting him so he would always know where the two Pokémon were according to the note. Apparently the goblins had supplied the devices (for a price) in the event that Harry decided to keep the two Pokémon with him (and Harry guessed they were the items his father had mentioned in his letter).

Harry spent a moment putting away all but one power bar and eight poffins, he then divided the poffins between the two Pokémon and Mule before sitting down to eat the power bar. As he ate, he pulled out the letter he'd written to his father the night before and read through it so he could refresh his memory over what he'd already told his father. Next, he pulled out another section of parchment and began writing another note informing his father about the difficulties he'd encountered on his first day.

It started with a brief rant about the school rules, touched on the scene over the water bottle at breakfast, gave a detailed account of what he remembered about his second blackout during the second confrontation with the seventh year, glossed over his injuries, ranted again about his stupid panic attack and the results, and ended with his arguments and discussions with the school's healer and two of his teachers. As a side note, he mentioned the seemingly bad blood between the name Potter and Professor Snape and asked his father if he could research the Potions Master's background.

He then let his father know that he wouldn't need the bottled water after all, because arrangements had been made, but a few bottles of the sportaide would be welcome for the times when he was alone in his room and let him know that he planned to keep the two eevee with him for the time being because he couldn't bring himself to send them away after the terrible first day he'd had. Harry also confided that he felt the classes were interesting but not very challenging because he'd already learned most of the theory just from reading the books before term started.

Finished, he signed the letter and tucked it, along with the original one he'd written, into an envelope and sealed it with a blob of wax. On a whim, he had Dilemma press a foot into the cooling wax instead of using the generic seal that had come with the sealing kit. Dilemma and the male eevee then received their collars, after Harry slipped the ring on his finger. The two cat sized Pokémon fidgeted uncomfortably over the strangeness of wearing the collars and the tingle of magic sending static through their fur for several minutes before finally settling down.

Harry spent the rest of his free time before curfew and lights out working on the various assignments he had been given in each of his classes. This included three essays (for Charms, Potions, and Herbology), two chapters of reading (for Defense and History), and twenty minutes spent practicing the spell that transformed a match into a needle. He finished all but one of the essays before getting ready for bed, writing himself a short note to stop by the library during his free time the next day so he could do a bit more research for his potions essay. Harry then crawled into bed and called for his two friends to join him. All three of them were soon deeply asleep as Mule watched over them from where he rested on his perch by the window.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _And cut… poor Harry; don't worry though, not every day is going to be quite so bad. And for those of you concerned that Harry will be panicking left and right, don't worry he won't. As I tried to have him explain in the chapter his emotional imbalance and over reactions were because of a combination of events and the stress he'd been feeling. Think of it as having an off-day. When I originally wrote his first year he had far more panic attacks but I've since edited them out and tried not to let him become too immature or insecure. It will take him a bit of time to adjust to being in a new environment though so don't expect him to be perfect. Things will pick up now that we've made it through the first day; there's lots of action coming up, a look at what's happening with Ash and the Pokémon without Harry, and we'll spend a short time with the Flamels to see how they are dealing with what they've learned. ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	10. Adjusting to Castle Life

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 10: Adjusting to Castle Life<span>_

_September 1991 to October 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

The rest of September passed by uneventfully, unless one counted the periodical encounter with annoying classmates. Harry slowly settled into his new routine during this time, though he'd experience hiccups here and there. The first such hiccup occurred during double potions one morning, when the bushy haired snob (whose name he eventually recalled was Hermione Granger) accidentally (and he suspected at least half on purpose) knocked his cauldron over while helping her fellow Gryffindor (a timid boy named Neville Longbottom) try to fix the mess he'd made of his potion.

He received a zero for that potion but felt vindicated when both Gryffindors had also been given zeros for the lesson as well, had points docked for disrupting the class, and were instructed to clean up the entire mess they had created (which included Harry's spilt potion). Granger was indignant over the entire thing but Harry (and everyone else except Longbottom) ignored the girl as she had quickly gained the reputation of being an annoying know-it-all due to her behavior in and out of classes.

In fact, Harry had an on going rivalry with the Granger girl in pretty much all of their classes (the exception was the flying lessons they were required to attend and that was only because the girl was terrified of heights). Both of them were exceptional students but Granger went about it in a rude and infantile manner; alienating more than ninety percent of her classmates. Harry on the other hand tried not to flaunt his knowledge and at the same time never hesitated to answer any questions directed at him. He also passed both written and practical exams with apparent ease; one of the benefits of being older and more mature then his prepubescent classmates.

Unfortunately, Harry's seemingly effortless ability to do well in classes (without killing himself with an ungodly amount of studying) offended the Granger girl to no end (not to mention more than a few Ravenclaws). Harry suspected that she was used to being the top of every class and felt threatened and frustrated because she finally had competition (even though Harry was sort of cheating since he was six years older than her).

Another (ongoing) hiccup in Harry's solidifying routine was the growing animosity of his fellow first year Ravenclaws. The five girls were not so bad; they just tended to ignore or avoid him, something not unexpected of eleven year old girls in general. The boys on the other hand went out of their way to insult Harry any time he out performed them or unintentionally made them look like slackers. Such as every morning when Harry was consistently the first boy up and ready before six thirty while the other four boys still needed to be prodded awake by a prefect just before seven. Lately, the boys had taken to trying to prank him during their free periods or in between classes. He only managed to thwart them by sheer luck as he was hypersensitive to his surroundings (especially in crowds and the less than roomy hallways of the castle) and could always spot them the moment they got close enough to do any harm (intentional or not).

The biggest problem though, was the continued efforts of Madam Pomfrey to have him ingest various standard healing potions any time she happened to see him, even long after the bruise on his face had faded out of existence. She was insistent that unless he actually consumed an assortment of the common potions she administered (such as a pain relieving potion, pepper-up potion, the stomach soothing solution, and a few unnamed others) they would never know which ones would affect his condition. The only way to avoid those confrontations was to avoid the school matron; a near impossible feat during meal times when she purposely sought him out while he was eating.

He supposed he could give in and allow her to use him as a lab rat in order to determine which potions affected him but he had no desire to suffer through the experiments she wished to put him through. Not when he could conduct his own experiments at home without putting his life on the line by running tests on the individual potions and conducting a series of blood tests during the summer months. The fact that he knew the healer would be unable to treat him if his body went into shock and begun to shut down (magic couldn't fix everything after all and Harry knew there were no spells to restart the heart because he'd checked) also made him leery of giving in to Madam Pomfrey's demands.

Harry's letters home only hinted at the issues he was experiencing, with the noticeable exception of the incidents involving the healer. The only reason for that though, was because as Harry's 'legal' guardian, Ash was the only one with the authority to make the Healer stand down. (Not that she was any more willing to listen to him than she was to Harry, he was just a 'muggle' after all and magicals were obviously superior; if only in their own minds.) Unless he wished to reveal his status as a legal adult, which he didn't because then his real identity would come out and that could complicate matters because of the imposter.

The imposter himself was another bone of contention that Harry was dealing with. The boy, whoever he really was, was dense as a rock and about as magically capable. Harry covertly monitored the fraud during classes and was appalled at how horribly the boy performed. He rarely ever correctly performed the spells, turned in shoddy essays, and never seemed to have the correct answers to any of the questions he was asked. The way he spoke was odd too, sounding more mechanical than human. The only thing the kid had going for him was the apparent adoration of at least seventy percent of the school, including most of the teachers.

McGonagall babied the boy along in class, Flitwick encouraged him for the most pathetic attempts during practical lessons, and Professor Sprout praised the boy's only talent to death in Herbology. On the other hand, Professor Snape berated the boy (and by extension Harry himself) constantly during Potions. It was getting so bad that Harry was dreading attending the class because of the caustic insults Snape rained down upon his head. It was all Harry could do to ignore the taunts unknowingly directed towards him. The charlatan also currently held the record for most detentions assigned (all by Snape) to a first year for the year and they hadn't been in school for all that long.

Worse yet, his unwanted double had made friends with a red-headed family of bullies. The oldest boy, whom he learned was a prefect by the name of Percy Weasley, was worse than the former seventh year prefect who'd belted Harry in the face that first day. The kid was a total snob, a brown-nosing sycophant, and a thief to boot. Harry had witnessed the guy nicking toys, candies, or other 'banned' objects (and some not banned items) from first and second years.

He'd even seen him take money from a third year from a different house. The two middle children, twins whose names Harry hadn't bothered to learn, enjoyed humiliating any student not in Gryffindor. They especially loved to pick on the younger Slytherins with all manner of cruel and humiliating 'pranks' for no real reason other than that they could. Those two also took pleasure in picking on any one foolish enough to bad mouth their youngest brother.

And while those three were bad enough, the worst of the group was the youngest who happened to be a first year like Harry. Ronald, or Ron as the boy preferred, was a bully ten times worse than his older brother Percy. The kid insulted everyone, including his housemates, stole from his dorm mates (according to the castle scuttlebutt), picked fights with anyone not in his house, and took perverse pleasure in touting how much of a friend he was to 'Thee Harry Potter'.

He was also quite demeaning in regards to the way he treated girls (even the ones older then him) and he could be quite crude when describing their physical assets. Harry often silently thanked the sorting hat for not putting him in the same house as that lot and looked forward to the day when the Weasleys learned that their 'golden' friend Potter was nothing more than a fraud. Sadly, all four of the redheads only got worse the longer the staff allowed them to get away with (or in some cases even encouraged) their blatant bullying.

In fact, there was a huge bullying problem school wide that was ignored and _supported_ by the staff; if only by the lack of repercussions on those caught bullying other students. The two worst houses were Gryffindor and Slytherin, though Ravenclaw wasn't too far behind (though the eagles tended to be smart enough not to get caught most of the time). Hufflepuff gave as good as they got as well, though if there was bullying between members of their own house it was not readily apparent – not like it was in the other three houses. That kind of behavior sickened Harry to no end and made him wish he didn't have to be here. It also made him draw even further away from his peers. This, of course, made him a target for the worst of the bullies as they wrongly assumed he would be an easy target.

If not for Lucy Carmichael, Harry wouldn't have anyone he would consider a possible a friend. The fifteen year old fifth year went out of her way to make sure he wasn't bullied, at least as far as the Ravenclaw common room went. She couldn't follow him everywhere though, and truthfully there was no need for her to protect him as he could easily take care of himself. She persisted in watching over him though and for that reason alone Harry considered her as a potential friend (he was still getting to know her, after all).

In October, things took a sharp downhill turn. The number of students taking perceived slight on Harry's account for one reason or another doubled after he cunningly got one of the Weasley twin's pranks to backfire on them with the help of the two eevee. That particular incident had earned the male eevee the name Spy Cat, as the clever little Pokémon been the key player during the turnabout. That scheme had actually earned Harry his first ever detention from Professor McGonagall after she'd taken offense to Harry outwitting her precious pranksters. He hadn't minded though because the twins had ended up with a week's worth of detentions from Filch for making a huge mess on the fourth floor.

Only the unintentional discovery of a fringe benefit of the charmed collars saved Harry from falling victim to the increased number of students out for his blood after that incident. He'd been chasing Dilemma, who'd snuck out of his room just before curfew, down the stairs to the common room. When he finally caught up with her, he'd scooped her up in his arms when a group of the sixth year Ravenclaws that didn't like Harry had entered the room from the passageway leading to the outside corridor. Being unexpectedly caught alone by a group of better trained students, with most of the other students ensconced up in their rooms, had Harry concerned that there would be another incident involving a black out period and new injuries as there were four of them and only one of him.

Surprisingly, the four boys had breezed right passed Harry as if he wasn't there. And there had been no way they couldn't have seen him; he'd been standing out in the center of the room when they entered the room. A smug mew from his arms reminded him of the function of the special collars the Pokémon wore and gave him the answer to why he hadn't been beaten to a pulp while temporarily scared out of his mind. Apparently, the wards on the collar extended far enough out that anyone in direct contact with the wearer would also be protected by the enchantments.

That startling and much appreciated discovery led to Harry carrying around one of the eevee on his shoulder whenever he was not in class or eating in the Great Hall. All he had to do was slip the Pokémon into his expanded book bag right after he took his seat before class and let him or her out right as the bell rang; unless he was required to stay behind and speak with one of his professors. Another plus was that his virtual ability to disappear when not in class or at a meal was that it frustrated those who wished to confront him to no end and allowed him to witness their aggravated rants over their inability to corner him.

By the time Halloween arrived, the ability to slip through the halls unnoticed earned him the nickname of Ghost Boy. Some of the second and third years even began speculating that he was an actual ghost that just arrived at Hogwarts and hadn't yet realized he was dead; hence the reason he was only seen during classes and meals.

At the end of the month, Halloween brought its own set of additional problems. Since the night before all Hallows Eve, all anyone could talk about was Harry Potter this and Harry Potter that as they practically fawned over the identity thief. To top it off, Harry finally learned that his parents were murdered on Halloween night back in nineteen eighty-one. He'd never bothered reading all of the various magical books told of their deaths since he was skeptical of their accuracy.

So when he overheard the youngest Weasley loudly commiserating with his unauthorized stunt double, he was blindsided with the news that the next day was the tenth anniversary of his parents' death and that the wizarding world treated the day as a victory celebration instead of the tragedy it really was. Though he could see why they wished to celebrate the downfall of Voldemort it still hurt to know that no one seemed to spare a thought to James and Lily Potter's death (or any of the other people that had fallen to Voldemort's wand).

If not for the fact that there were classes to attend on Halloween day; Harry would have holed himself up in his room all day to avoid the growing excitement. As it was, he knew he had no good reason to skip class and telling anyone the truth would reveal his hidden identity. That meant he would also be forced to attend the feast that was being given that night so as not to draw attention to himself.

The day started out bad and only got worse right after his first class, Charms, as he witnessed the Witless Wonder Weasley, also known as Ron, demeaning the Granger snob for trying to help him (albeit with her usual superior attitude) with their practical lesson that morning. Sure, Granger was annoying but that wasn't any reason to bully and humiliate her to the point of tears. Harry was half tempted to confront the red-headed menace over the issue but refrained due to the presence of the fraud. Harry hadn't seen the Granger girl for the rest of the day.

Potions class later that day was even more horrible than usual. Snape was in fine form as he hovered around the fake Potter's table spouting demeaning insults against James Potter with every breath he took. Each insult from the overgrown bully wormed its way through Harry's control and added to his anger and disgust as he listened to the greasy haired man spout his diatribe. Only the fact that Harry sat several rows away from his counterpart and wasn't the perceived direct target of the man's ire saved said man from what Harry and Ash had taken to calling his 'Blackout Incidents'. Though it had been a close thing as several times Harry felt something deep inside of him stirring each time the caustic wizard opened his mouth.

After that class period ended, Harry spent lunch time hiding in the kitchens with the elves so he didn't have to deal with the other students right then; though the poor things were more than a little distraught over Harry's lack of appetite (unwittingly blaming themselves for not making the food tempting enough). His last three classes of the day, Herbology, History, and Flying, dragged on endlessly as he wished for the day to be over. Flying class was exceptionally horrid as all anyone could talk about was the approaching feast. Even Professor Hooch must have gotten tired of listening to the excited students as she released them from class a full twenty minutes early, much to Harry's relief. Of course, that only gave the first year students license to more freely express their growing excitement.

And if the long day wasn't bad enough, the feast that night was nothing but one long disaster. First, the house elves apparently forgot about providing Harry with his specialized diet (possibly because he'd unintentionally upset them during lunch). Everything on the table was practically drenched in sugars and high carb starches and most of the dishes offered were more along the lines of desserts then they were entrees. The elves even left out his personal self refilling pitcher of water they had been providing for him ever since his second day at Hogwarts. And unlike those first few meals he suffered through, there weren't even any dishes available that night for him to make a meal out of.

Harry considered getting up and approaching his Head of House about the matter but the diminutive wizard was currently engaged in a conversation with the Headmaster and Harry was loath to draw that much attention to himself by interrupting. Worse still Lucy, ever looking out for his well being, kept trying to talk him into sampling some of the dishes (he didn't blame her for that since he had just been telling her how hungry he was). He was just preparing to try and explain why he wasn't eating anything when the bumbling Defense professor (whom Harry didn't particularly care for because the man was borderline incompetent and hard to understand) crashed through the double doors at the entrance of the hall and squealed like a little girl as he delivered the terrible news that a troll had been found in the dungeon.

Panic ensued until Headmaster Dumbledore firing off a series of loud spells that immediately caught everyone's attention. Harry was sure the purported greatest wizard of the age would tell the students to calmly remain where they were while the teachers handled the rogue troll. Only to be shocked to his core as the man instead sent hundreds of students out into the very halls where the troll was lurking. Harry was still trying to comprehend the senselessness of sending the students to their common rooms when there was an apparently dangerous beast loose in the castle when Lucy prodded him to get in line with the other students as all of the Ravenclaw prefects were leading their house back to the tower.

Because he'd been slow to respond, Harry and Lucy ended up being at the tail end of the long line of about seventy students; a placement that turned out to be a godsend for one Hermione Granger, snob extraordinaire. Halfway on the track back to their common room, the line of Ravenclaws stumbled across the vilest of stenches filling the hallways. The older students, who'd been lucky enough to have competent professors in Defense Against the Dark Arts during previous years, immediately recognized the smell for what it was and promptly led the younger and more vulnerable students through a nearby shortcut that would drop them down a floor to safety (the older students not wasting any time in following them). Harry and Lucy, the two of them lagging at the end of the line and the last to reach the passage, were therefore the only ones to hear the sound of terrified screams coming from the girl's bathroom just down the hall.

"We can't just leave that girl on her own while we try to find a professor," Lucy whispered fearfully as the two of them shared a nervous look. "The troll could kill her, whoever she is, before they could get here."

"Can we distract the troll long enough for her to escape?"

"Maybe, but there's a chance we could end up getting hurt ourselves, or worse," Lucy speculated as they began jogging towards the piercing screams.

"So, we stay out of arm's reach," Harry quipped back logically as they opened the door and found the huge troll cornering the long absent Granger. "And well out of reach of its club…" he added nervously once he'd seen the huge tree branch in the creature's hand.

"Right, I'll distract the brute, you rescue the girl," Lucy instructed as she began firing petrification hexes and slowing charms at the monstrous troll.

Harry didn't need to be told twice. The moment the troll turned its attention to the older girl, Harry dove around it and grabbed Granger's arm in an effort to get her out of the room. Unfortunately, the girl was too caught up in her panic over her encounter with the troll and she immediately began fighting him.

"Ow, damn it, ouch, stop that!" Harry hissed as she bit and clawed at his hands and face. "I'm, ow, trying to, for crying out loud… I'm trying to save you!" Behind him, the troll roared angrily, causing both Harry and the girl to cover their ears from the sound. Harry glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Lucy get clipped on the knee by the trolls club; her wand flying across the room as she lost hold of it as she fell. "Oh shit, we are so dead…" Harry barked as he worriedly watched the fifth year hit the ground hard enough to knock her out.

By a stroke of luck, exceedingly bad luck, Harry's comment drew the attention of the now fuming troll; apparently trolls had better hearing than he would have guessed. Beside him, Granger let off another piercing scream which only served to annoy the troll further and make Harry's ears ring.

"Cut that out! You're just aggravating the damn thing!" Harry hissed as he searched desperately for a place to hide in the destroyed bathroom or something to use as a weapon.

At that moment the door leading into the bathroom opened and for one brief second he felt hope, thinking that reinforcements had arrived. Tragically, while help had arrived, it was not a teacher or an older student with the knowledge of how to defeat or subdue the mountain troll. Harry's two eevee, who'd been hiding under the tables eating scraps during the feast (and accidentally left behind in the furor of leaving the Great Hall), had apparently decided to come looking for their trainer. Harry's heart froze in fear as he caught sight of the two tiny fox-cats and he whispered a single horrified 'no' as the two Pokémon immediately launched themselves at the troll without any hesitation.

* * *

><p><strong>02-05-13:<strong>_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	11. Braving Battle

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 11: Braving Battle<span>_

_Thursday Evening, October 31, 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

Only the protective nature of their collars prevented the immediate deaths of the two Pokémon as they darted in and attempted to hamstring the lumbering monster. Since the troll couldn't see what was attacking it, it couldn't accurately counter attack. Harry took this opportunity to forcefully pull his fellow first year to her feet and shove her in the direction of the still open door. When she baulked at having to move past the troll, Harry hit her in the bum with a well placed stinging hex that spurred her into moving.

Unfortunately, her squeal of pain and humiliation drew the troll's attention back to their position, and Harry was soon cut off from his only path of escape. Praying his father would forgive him for being so reckless, Harry ran up to the troll and kicked it in the knee to allow Granger to flee unmolested. He was rewarded for this selfless act by the crushing pressure of the troll's fist wrapping around him as it grabbed hold of him and began squeezing him tightly.

As he struggled to breathe, Harry caught sight of his male eevee attacking the troll's club hand where it dangled near the floor. The Pokémon must have bit down on a nerve, because the troll roared out in pain and swung its fist violently, sending the Pokémon flying.

"Spy Cat, no!" Harry screamed out in anger and fear as he saw his little friend bounce off one of the broken sinks and fall to the floor; afraid that the little male had not survived. He redoubled his efforts to free himself from the ham-fisted beast that had picked him up. His arms were securely trapped against his sides though, and he was unable to even use his wand to create a distraction. As he struggled he caught a single glimpse of Lucy's horrified face staring up at him from where she lay just behind the troll. She'd been knocked out briefly after getting hit by the creature and had apparently only just regained consciousness.

Harry was soon fighting just to keep from blacking out over a lack of oxygen as he couldn't breathe very well since the troll was crushing his chest, along with the rest of his body (the overpowering stench of the beast didn't help maters either). Down on the floor, he could hear the nervous whines of Dilly as she tried to give Spy Cat a Helping Hand. Right at that moment, a beam of moonlight bathed the bathroom in pale light. A second, brighter light grew into being from where Harry had last seen his male eevee.

Harry felt a thread of hope fill him as he gasped desperately at the air the moment he realized that Spy Cat was evolving; his faithful little friend still lived. Frantic, Harry resorted to biting the fingers that held him, only to gag over the foul taste of the troll's thick skin. His efforts predictably (and thankfully) drew the attention of the troll away from the vulnerable transforming eevee since the evolutionary process seemed to have temporarily negated the spells that usually kept the Pokémon hidden from view.

Regrettably that wasn't exactly in Harry's best interest as the troll brought him right up to its face, looking for all the world like it was going to eat him. He was saved this time by the intervention of Dilemma, who had once more bitten the troll's ankle in an effort to ham string the monster. Shortly after that, Spy Cat, now fully evolved into the moonlight form of umbreon, used a confuse ray to disorient the troll.

This caused the troll to stumble drunkenly and drop Harry from a height of about six feet when it tried to steady itself against the wall. The rough landing knocked what little air Harry had left his lungs out and nearly had him unconscious as he heard and felt several bones snap. It was only his need to make certain his Pokémon friends were not harmed that allowed him to push the encroaching darkness back long enough to croak out, "Good job, Spy Cat."

He then clenched his jaw around the spike of pain as felt Dilemma grab hold of his robes at the back of his neck and dragging him out of immediate danger inch by agonizing inch, only to be hindered when the troll stepped on the edge of Harry's robes. Knowing he couldn't hold onto his consciousness forever in his current condition, Harry frantically tried to recall which attacks umbreon could use that might be effective against the rampaging troll.

"Paralyze him with Mean Look and then attack with Pursuit," Harry encouraged as loudly as he could as he finally recalled the list of attacks umbreon could use. He groaned when Mean Look failed but smiled briefly as Spy Cat's Pursuit made the troll stumble forward. It was at that point that his world slowly began to go dark once more, a sure sign that he was losing his battle of wills against his injuries. "Dodge… dodge… Faint Attack…" were the last things Harry called out as he sank into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p><em>September 1991 to October 1991<br>Potter Property, Northern Highlands  
>Scotland<em>

Since the day he had watched Harry get on the train, Ash had spent his time working side by side with the hired construction workers building the cottage in the Highlands when he wasn't cleaning up the London Townhouse. His willingness to work alongside the goblins, wizards, and squibs that were working on the home had earned him the grudging respect of the goblins; mostly because he readily helped with the manual labor since very little magic was used to put up the basic foundations and skeleton frames of the walls. While magic could have easily been used to build the house completely, magical constructs tended to degrade over time causing buildings constructed that way to collapse. So, even though magic could have cut the time it would take to finish the cottage in half, it wasn't used except to strengthen the structure as it grew.

On the days when he wasn't helping the crews, Ash spent time training Harry's Pokémon out of view of the workers with the help of the Pokémon he'd brought with him. He did this for two reasons; one, all of the Pokémon needed regular exercise to stay fit and two, Harry's pining Pokémon needed the distraction. Ash had discovered the latter reason on the morning of the second day Harry had been gone, when for some reason Dancer and Trickster stirred up a ruckus and overturned several crates of building material for the house.

He hadn't known the cause for their early morning frenzy until he received Harry's next letter two days later. Apparently, about the time the Pokémon began acting up, Harry had been mixed up in a small scuffle with a more advanced student. It immediately reminded Ash of the time when Harry had been attacked by his history teacher in Viridian City, when Dancer had gone berserk while they were out in the field pulling data off the field equipment. Ash made a mental note to pay more attention to the Pokémon's behavior from that point forward and made an effort to help them burn off their excess energy in order to prevent them from acting up more often. In this way, Harry's Pokémon could be used as a kind of meter regarding Harry's health.

Since that day, the Pokémon had been fairly mellow almost to the point of moping as the days stretched into weeks. Ash felt horrible for the pining creatures as he turned his thoughts to those Pokémon of his own that he'd left behind in his world with his mother. He wondered if they were feeling as sad and awful as Harry's were. All through the years he'd spent capturing and battling with his Pokémon he'd rarely given much thought to those individuals that weren't in his possession; he'd known Professor Oak was caring for them and left it at that.

It wasn't that he neglected them; he just assumed they were safe and happy where they were. And in about sixty percent of the cases he probably would have been correct. It was those other forty percent that were now weighing heavily on Ash's conscience though, as he recalled individual Pokémon he'd spent considerable time with; Pokémon such as Treecko (who'd eventually gone on to evolve into Sceptile), Chikorita (who'd transformed into Meganium), and Cyndaquil, (now Typhlosion). Ash felt guilty about deciding to leave those Pokémon behind, even though at the time he chose which ones would come with him he'd thought he'd be more limited by a lack of free space for them.

These thoughts were heavy on his mind when he woke up on Halloween morning to take the Pokémon out for a quick jog around the construction sight before the day's crew arrived. He then spent the rest of the morning working on the frame for the south wall of the cottage with a pair of fierce looking goblins. Around lunch time, when he took a break to spend some time with the critters, he noticed that Trickster was staring off to the south and pacing in agitation. Ash made note of the ninetales's unease as he fixed up a large platter of berries for the rest of the Pokémon. When Harry's first Pokémon laid down facing south with a petulant whine, Ash assumed the normally mischievous Pokémon was just missing the boy. He wouldn't know how wrong he was about that until later that night.

After lunch, he returned to the construction sight and dove right back into the work, putting Trickster's behavior out of his mind for the time being. Around sunset (shortly after six o'clock that night), the goblins set out a horde of yellow fairy lights so they could finish putting up the final wall of the outer frame before quitting for the night (goblins didn't seem to know the meaning of the words quitting time and therefore rarely ever stopped working before they'd finished their set goal for the day regardless of how long they'd been working or what time of day it was). Ash was had just decided to stick around to help start cleaning up for the day when he heard a familiar long, low, mournful howl coming from somewhere near the caves.

Dropping the bag of nails and hammer he'd been holding, Ash took off at a dead run to find out what had disturbed Trickster. He was barely halfway to the cave and could see the agitated ninetales crouching low to the ground as it growled and barked at some unseen foe. Suddenly, he jumped up high into the air and gave off a second grief-stricken howl before he gave a flick of his nine tails and disappeared.

"Teleport? Ninetales can't learn Teleport! He should not have been able to do that," Ash muttered as he stumbled to a stop and stared at the spot the normally playful Pokémon had recently occupied. He was knocked out of his stupor, literally, by a wildly panicking Dancer as the fire pony danced fretfully back and forth practically on top of him (the rest of Harry's Pokémon agitated as well though they weren't trying to trample Ash). "Harry!" Ash groaned out in sudden understanding as Trickster's behavior suddenly made sense.

Without even sparing a thought for the goblins and wizards currently watching him curiously, Ash climbed to his feet and activated the permanent portkey that traveled between the Highland property and the steps of Gringotts in Diagon Alley. Somehow, Dancer had grabbed hold of the silver chain before the device activated and the two of them landed awkwardly on the marble steps. With no regards to the witches and wizards exiting the bank, Ash and the agitated Pokémon barged up the stairs in a headlong rush. Once inside the lobby, the older man was devastated to find that the building was mostly deserted, with the odd goblin or wizard merely finishing up their final bits of business before closing time.

"Please! Someone, anyone! I need to get to Hogwarts immediately – it's an emergency," Ash cried out frantically as he tore through the lobby in the direction he knew the private offices and conference rooms laid. "My son is in trouble and I have to reach him before it's too late."

Ash had just about reached the doors leading to the inner rooms when he felt an iron grip grab hold of his shoulder. Spinning around due to the sudden loss of forward momentum, he was shocked to find a rather stately (if somewhat frail looking) old man restraining him.

"You spoke of un cas d'urgence, oui?" the man queried intently. "At Hogwarts? Can you explain, please?"

* * *

><p><em>Thursday Evening, October 31, 1991<br>Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley  
>London, England<em>

Nicholas and Perenelle had arranged to meet with the goblins on a night when they knew Dumbledore would be far too occupied with his students to bother investigating any whispers of their presence on English soil for the first time in over a hundred years. The soonest possible date for this to occur just happened to be Halloween night. Oh, they could have conceivably shown up at Gringotts on the first night of term, during the Welcoming Feast, but there hadn't been enough time to gather everything they would need to take with them and make traveling arrangements to get to Gringotts and back before Dumbledore was notified of their presence. As urgent as the situation seemed to be in their hearts, they knew they needed to plan this meeting carefully.

It was times like these that Nicolas wished his animagus form could fly like his wife's peregrine form; unfortunately foxes don't have wings, not even wily old ones that have access to magic. So travel plans were made in the muggle world, under one of their numerous aliases, for them to travel by boat across the channel during the afternoon on the thirty first of October. They also arranged for a muggle taxi to pick them up once they arrived, as they wished to avoid using magic if at all possible, to prevent their presence from being noticed on the off chance that the Ministry was monitoring the sensors in the London area for their specific signatures (under Dumbledore's orders). Their precautions may have been bordering on the edge of paranoia but they didn't live to see their six hundredth and something birthday last year by relying on shoddy planning or reckless bumbling.

Once in London they could prevail upon the hospitality of the goblins if need arose for them to spend the night there, or simply apparate home from the coast once they finished their business. There was no risk in leaving the country magically, especially when just crossing over the channel, as the English were far more concerned with who was entering their small country rather than who was leaving.

When the day of their appointment had finally arrived, the two of them had donned their slightly outdated muggle clothes and set off with a determined air. Everything went smoothly, between customs and the speed of the trip across the short body of water, right up until they stepped down off the boat on the English side of the divide. First, the taxi they had requested to meet them was late. Apparently the driver assigned to pick them up had been mugged by his previous customer and had been unable to finish his rounds for the day.

Then, when the replacement finally arrived the man sped off going the wrong way – apparently he'd misheard their destination and thought for some reason the Flamels wanted to visit the King's College on the other side of the Thames. By the time they got him to turn around and take them to Charing Cross Road, they were already running nearly two hours behind schedule. The seemingly endless delays were setting both of them on edge as the longer they were in England the greater the chance of Dumbledore discovering their presence.

It wasn't that the Flamels were personally afraid of Dumbledore; either one of them was more than a match for the younger upstart. No, the Flamels were terrified of what the manipulative old man would do to their grandson should he learn of their meeting with the goblins. Especially, if he had even the slightest suspicion of their duplicity regarding the 'Philosopher's Stone' that they had allowed him to blackmail them into giving him. The entire situation frustrated them to no end, mainly because someone of Dumbledore's caliber had hoodwinked their family into betraying itself which ultimately led to their downfall. So as long as Dumbledore held all the aces, they would have to bide their time and dance around him. The moment the cards were in their favor though, all bets were off and right now they were but a hairbreadth away from obtaining one of the cards they desperately needed; the name of their missing grandson.

Upon arriving at their destination (finally), the two of them exited the taxi cab and gave the driver only half the amount on the meter. When the driver complained, Nicholas heatedly pointed out that they were now over two hours late for an urgent appointment due to the mistakes that had been made either by the company or by the driver, Nicholas added that he'd be calling the main office to complain the moment he returned home. This was enough incentive for the driver to back off and grumblingly accept the reduced fare (which in actuality was the exact amount the Flamels would have owed if they'd arrived on time without any detours).

Nicholas and Perenelle didn't wait around at that point, knowing the cabby might still try to involve the police in order to receive the bloated fare. Moving quickly, the pair of them ducked into the Leaky Cauldron with their hoods up and hurried through the pub in the hopes that the goblins wouldn't be too irritated over their tardiness, otherwise they may have to wait until the end of the school year to reschedule the meeting during the Hogwarts' End of Term Feast.

They'd barely walked through the doors of the bank and headed in the direction of the closest unoccupied teller, when a frantic man burst into the lobby raving about an emergency at Hogwarts and practically begging for the goblins to help him. His plea for help indicated the man was either a squib or a muggle and the fact that he approached the goblins as opposed to the English Ministry of Magic for help was intriguing. The fact that the goblins didn't run the man out of the bank at spear point indicated the man either had lots of money or someone the man was related to had lots of money.

If not for his mention of the school, Nicholas might have paid the man no mind as he needed to take care of his own business. However, because Hogwarts was mentioned, he felt the need to learn more of the emergency the man was talking about; his thoughts on the fraudulent stone. So, he changed his course to waylay the man before he vanished into the warren of conference rooms and offices beyond the lobby. Once he had hold of the man, to prevent him from disappearing, Nicholas immediately demanded, "You spoke of un cas d'urgence, oui? At Hogwarts? Can you explain… please?"

* * *

><p><strong>Translations:<strong> French to English

un cas d'urgence = an emergency  
>oui = yes<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _This was actually a frustrating chapter to write originally; I didn't want either Harry or the eevee to be too strong because eevee are the weaker than their evolutionary counterparts. Ash's reaction was a bit over the top too but in my mind he once again sees Harry as he was in those first few years; a scared little boy that needs his protection. I actually toned down his original reaction quite a bit… The next chapter will have the post battle fall out at Hogwarts and the reactions of the staff and the students directly involved (aside from Harry since he is, at this point, unconscious). _

_I'd like to once again thank everyone who has reviewed or placed this story on their favorites, alerts, or in their communities. ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	12. A Disaster of Epic Proportions

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 12: A Disaster of Epic Proportions<span>_

_Thursday Evening, October 31, 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

Hermione Granger was in a complete snit. Her rival, whom she loathed with all her being, had just hexed her in the butt! The boy was just about the rudest person she'd ever had the misfortune to meet and was currently parading about in the girl's bathroom to boot. Her indignant irritation over the fact that her behind was still itching and hurting from his unnecessary stinging hex completely blinded her to the fact that the same boy had just saved her life at great risk to his own. She was in the middle of a full blown muttering rant when she was discovered wandering the hallways by an exasperated Professor McGonagall who appeared more then a little put out at finding her in the corridors.

"Good heavens, Miss Granger! What in Merlin's name are you doing wandering about the castle at a time like this!? Don't you know there is a troll loose in the castle?"

"Of course, I know," Hermione snapped without thinking. "I'm out here because that stupid, annoying boy just chased me out of the bathroom with a stinging hex! He _hexed_ me! For no reason, no reason at all!"

"Who hexed you? If he's the reason you're not safe in your common room I'll have him expelled faster then you can say snitch!" McGonagall sputtered as she bore down on the young Gryffindor. "Where is he?"

"He's still in the…" Hermione began before she stopped what she was saying and turned white as a sheet. "Oh my god, he's in the bathroom with the troll. He… he…"

At that point, McGonagall had gone even paler than her student as she quickly realized another student was in a small room with a troll. Without waiting to hear the rest of what the girl had to say, she pushed the child into the nearest room and locked the door before storming into the bathroom where she could hear the cacophony of the raging troll. The sound she had been following when she stumbled upon the girl pacing the corridor in the first place. Just before she reached the door, a loud crash thundered through the castle and nearly knocked her off her feet. Fearing the worst, she quickly supported her body against the wall as she threw the door open and rushed into the bathroom with her wand at the ready. What she found inside was a sight that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

There was a fifth year prefect laying injured near where the toilets used to be, tears streaming down the girl's face as she hoarsely called to another student. The troll, a huge fifteen foot mountain troll, was sprawled on the ground just inches away from the where the girl laid, its neck bent unnaturally to the side; obviously dead as the creature wasn't moving. Moving further into the room, the stern transfiguration professor got her first glimpse of a student's black school robes trapped beneath the bulk of the troll's body and immediately feared the worst as she took in the massive smears of blood that dotted the floor.

"Please help him professor!" The prefect begged through her tears when the girl saw who had come into the room. "He was only supposed to get the girl out of the bathroom, not be killed. I should have sent him to our tower but I thought we'd be fast enough to get away before either of us got hurt. Please, don't let him be dead. He's just a first year!"

Professor McGonagall wasn't listening to her though because she was currently maneuvering through the debris that littered the floor so she could get close enough to determine if the boy still lived. She had just about reached the robes when an agonized moan off to the side drew her attention. There, leaning against the shattered remains of the sinks, was a young first year clad in a pair of black slacks and what used to be a white t-shirt. Most of the shirt, and the floor beneath the boy, were covered in blood. Seeing that the boy was still alive, if just barely, McGonagall cast a Patronus Charm and sent the silvery tabby that appeared streaking towards the hospital wing with instruction for Madam Pomfrey to hurry. A second patronus was then sent off to find the headmaster to let him know that the troll had been… neutralized.

Once that was done, she hurried over to the prefect and conjured up a stretcher to carry the wounded girl. At that point the girl became hysterical about the boy and Minerva was forced to stun her to prevent her from furthering injuring herself. She was just levitating the girl out of the bathroom when Madam Pomfrey arrived at a dead run carrying her emergency satchel. McGonagall shooed her into the bathroom when the healer made to begin treating the girl on the stretcher.

"What in hell's bells happened in here, Minnie?" Pomfrey demanded as she knelt beside the boy.

"From what little I learned, the prefect you saw a minute ago attempted to rescue a first year student with another first year in tow. Apparently something went drastically wrong, as you can see. Do you think you can help the poor child?"

Without replying, Madam Pomfrey petrified the boy to prevent his injuries from being jostled on the way to the hospital wing. Normally, she'd treat him right there but his injuries were far worse than she was prepared to treat at present. Working quickly, she lifted the boy onto a second stretcher and groaned as she saw the boy's face for the first time. "Of all the students in the castle to wind up in this condition, it just had to be the one student who won't let me properly treat his injuries. I suppose I should be thankful he's passed out so I don't have to hear him complain about the potions he's going to need in order to recover from this ordeal."

Together, the two witches backed out of the bathroom with their charges in tow and headed up to the hospital wing, McGonagall making a quick side trip to retrieve the rattled Miss Granger from the classroom she'd locked her in. The distraught girl took one look at the blood covered boy on the stretcher and burst into hysterical tears. When they reached the hospital ward, Madam Pomfrey immediately set to work diagnosing the boy's injuries while McGonagall tended to the two girls.

The list of damage was appalling; the left boy's ribcage had been crushed, his left lung had collapsed, both collarbones were broken, his pelvis was broken in three places, and his right leg was broken in six. That wasn't even counting the bruises and internal bleeding. Without stopping to take a breath, she began firing healing spell after spell to begin righting the damage the boy had received, starting with his lungs and rib cage. Next she stopped the bleeding, both internal and external before turning her attention to the numerous broken bones. The last spell she cast was a final scan to search for any injuries she might have missed.

At this point it was safe to release the boy from the petrification so she could begin pumping him full of healing potions. She started with a blood replenishing potion, two full doses because of the amount of blood the child had lost. She then gave him a large dose of Bone Knit, to help the recently mended bones heal faster. Another two potions, one for pain relief and the other to speed up blood circulation, soon followed the first two. She contemplated throwing in a sleeping draught as well but before she could make up her mind the boy started convulsing.

Caught off guard, the witch simply stared at the thrashing boy for a full a minute before jumping into action. She first tried to stop the seizure by petrifying the boy a second time which only made matters worse because while he visibly stopped thrashing on the outside, his organs still suffered from a constant stream of spasms. Next she tried to purge the potions from the boy's stomach but that didn't work out the way it was supposed to as the boy began frothing at the mouth, his saliva tinged red with blood.

There were a hundred concoctions she could have used to heal a normal child at this point but she began to fear that pouring additional potions into his system would only make matters worse as she finally recalled why the child had adamantly refused to consume any healing potions. Meanwhile, as she dithered about what to do, the boy went into cardiac arrest as his heart failed and his face slowly started turning blue from the lack of oxygen. If something wasn't done quickly, the boy would be dead in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. On the other side of the room, Professor McGonagall and the two girls (the deputy headmistress had just woken the prefect in order to give her a pain reliever) watched with undisguised horror as the boy literally began dying right before their eyes while the school's healer basically went into a panic.

Into this bedlam, the strangest creature to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts appeared with a sizzle, pop, and a flash of flame colored sparks. Madam Pomfrey fainted at the sight of the unnatural looking wolf that had appeared while the other three witches screamed. Trickster took in the situation with but a single glimpse and quickly sprang into action. A flick of a single tail cast a sleeping charm over the three terrified people still in the room and a second flick made sure the woman on the floor wouldn't be waking up any time soon. The mystical ninetales then flicked its many tales several more times causing several strange looking berries to appear out of nowhere.

The Pokémon then whined as he looked over his human brother, his concern plainly visible on his wolfish face as he climbed up onto the bed with his boy and began licking his face. When that drew no response from the boy, the fire fox howled in anguish as a small wind began whipping its tales back and forth. Trickster then attempted to wake the boy up a second time, nudging him repeatedly in the side with his nose. Still, the boy refused to respond. Desperately, the Pokémon lifted one of the smaller berries with its tale and pushed it up against the boy's mouth in hopes that the presence of the berry would illicit the desired response. Tragically, that wasn't working either and Trickster sang out his frustration to the moon a second time.

His cries had drawn the attention of the two eevee, or rather one umbreon and one eevee, who had been tracking Harry's scent through the castle as the two Pokémon had been left behind rather abruptly. Little Dilemma immediately jumped up onto the bed and added her soulful voice to Trickster's song while Spy Cat jumped up onto the sill of the nearest window and used the move Moonlight.

The Pokémon attack, which really wasn't so much an attack as it was a move designed to give a Pokémon strength and energy to continue a battle, bathed the entire room in a wash of starlight and moonbeams. Tiny sparks flittered about all three Pokémon as the attack took effect, a large number of them fluttering down to land on Harry's face while the Pokémon watched intently. To the Pokémons' immediate relief the move, which acted more like a healing spell, quickly began working on their human companion.

Unwitnessed by the many denizens of the castle, Harry's muted thrashing slowly subsided while color slowly returned to his face as his breathing once more became less labored. By the time the Moonlight faded, Harry was no longer on the verge of death, though he was far from healed and still very much unconscious. Three more times, Spy Cat performed Moonlight as the exhausted and injured Pokémon struggled to stay awake long enough to make a difference. The weary umbreon collapsed on the stone ledge of the window after that as his own injuries from the battle with the troll finally caught up with him. The brave male Pokémon had only lasted as long as he had because Dilemma had been using Helping Hand to lend him her own strength in order to heal their trainer.

As the last of the moonlight faded completely, Trickster vanished the berries he'd called to him with a flick of his tail before he began grooming the young female eevee that was curled up sleeping beside him. When he finished his ministrations, he reached out with one long tail and lifted down the barely conscious umbreon and set the courageous Pokémon down beside his litter mate before applying his tongue to male's coat as well.

Their peaceful moment was shattered a few seconds later as Harry's body forcefully ejected the deadly and poisonous (to him) combination of potions he'd been given by the healer. If not for Trickster's quick reflexes as he burrowed his body beneath his human and rolled him over onto his side, Harry would have choked to death on the vile liquid sludge that he was expelling from his stomach. Only when the purging finally ended, did the ninetales carefully extract himself out from under the boy's body. Trickster then nuzzled Harry's face tenderly before giving each of the fox-cat Pokémon a final brush of his tongue.

Trickster then teleported out of the Hogwarts' hospital wing, giving a final flick of his tale to lift the sleeping spells he'd placed on the humans just as he vanished from site.

* * *

><p><em>Thursday Evening, October 31, 1991<br>Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley  
>London, England<em>

Before Ash could open his mouth to either explain what he thought was going on or yell at the man retaining him, the senior goblin officer on duty interrupted with a terse; "Is there a problem here?"

Thinking his plea for help was about to be answered, Ash blurted out, "I need to get to Hogwarts right now. I have reason to believe my son's life is in danger."

"And you know this how?" The goblin demanded.

Ash simply thrust his hand out to indicate the agitated fire Pokémon that was pacing frantically back and forth in the bank's lobby. Anytime one of the goblins attempted to either to get the animal under control or chase it out of the bank, the ponyta would rear up and scream shrilly as she thrashed her hooves angrily. "She's bonded to my son and she only behaves like that when he is in mortal peril. Please, there isn't much time. Just get me to the school, that's all I ask."

The goblin stared at Ash for a moment before turning to one of his subordinates and firing off a rapid string of commands in Gobbledygook. The underling then darted out of the room as if his feet were on fire while those goblins trying to contain the rampaging fire horse backed away to give the animal room to move. Just under a minute later, another goblin came trotting out of the depths of the bank and began a heated conversation with the officer of the guards.

"We can get you to the gates of the castle," the officer announced a moment later. "But there is no guarantee that you will be able to see the castle let alone enter the grounds through the wards. That is the most we can do as the school is under the jurisdiction of the current headmaster."

"That's one step closer than I am now," Ash agreed without hesitation before giving a sharp whistle that called the fretting Dancer to his side while at the same time jerking his shoulder out of the other man's grasp. "We're ready to go now."

Five minutes later, Ash, Dancer, and a goblin escort vanished in a swirl of blue portkey magic as they were transported back up to Hogsmeade in Scotland. Nicholas nearly growled with helpless frustration as he watched them go because he desperately wanted to know what was going on. He was especially fearful because the nature of the emergency was virtually unknown and his thoughts were immediately linking the impending disaster to the fake stone he'd created that was in Dumbledore's possession and in all likelihood on the castle grounds.

Turning to face the goblin that had allowed the one man with the possible answers to one of his current fears flee before he could get said answers, Nicholas ground out sharply in flawless Gobbledygook, "_Take us to Ragnok, __**now. **__We have urgent business with the goblin nation._"

At the same time, Ash's feet were slammed into the ground for the second time that night as the hastily made portkey dropped them out just short of the ground rather abruptly. Before he'd even recovered his balance, Dancer was bolting towards the ruins of an abandoned castle in the distance at breakneck speeds. Ash took off after her, brushing off the sudden desire to return home so he could get back to work helping the crew putting up his house.

He finally caught up to the charging fire horse as she skidded to a stop just outside a set of imposing gates flanked by the ugliest statues Ash had ever seen. Grasping said gates with one hand as he draped the other over Dancer's withers, Ash bent over and gasped for air from the mad dash up the small road. When he looked up again, he was shocked to see a rather magnificent castle instead of the expected pile of rubble he'd glimpsed just moments before. Shaking off his stupor, Ash began rattling the gates as he yelled out at the top of his lungs for someone to come unlock the gate and let him in.

His cries must have reached someone's ears as the mighty doors leading into the castle opened up into the night releasing a flood of bright light across the grounds as a huge figure stepped out into the night and quickly began walking towards him. Feeling as if he was getting closer to reaching (and therefore protecting) his son, Ash redoubled his verbal efforts to hurry the person along.

"Here now, wha's all the racket about?" the impossibly huge man demanded to know as he came to a stop just on the other side of the gate. "Yeh can't just come barging up ta the school like this, there's rules against tha sorta thing, yeh know."

"I must help my son, he's up there in that castle right now, possibly dying," Ash growled out as he released Dancer and placed his other hand on the gate as he leaned closer.

"Yer barmy," the looming giant barked out. "Ain't nuffin of a sort happening up at the castle. Why Hogwarts is the safest place in all of Britain, if not the world!"

"Please, I need to see my son. Something has happened!"

"Yeh'll have ta make arrangement with Headmaster Dumbledore another time; yeh can't just walk up ta the gates and expect ta be let in."

Ash just growled in response this time and gave the gate an angry shake as he glared up at the person (or being) obstructing his way.

"None of tha' now, or I'll have ta box yer ears a might ta settle yeh down."

With that rather threatening remark, Ash felt his level of frustration double and wished he'd thought to bring Pikachu with him; he could have shocked the guy keeping him from his son. Or better yet, Charizard so the mighty dragon could have flown them over the fence that was preventing him from reaching Harry.

"Tha's more like it, now be off with yeh if yeh know wha's best fer yeh."

"You may have won this round," Ash whispered dangerously. "But mark my words, if my son was harmed tonight… by _any_one or _any_thing up in that castle… if he has suffered so much as a strained muscle let alone a life threatening injury and I find out about it after the fact because you refused to let me in now, I will tear this castle apart stone by stone until I find the person or persons responsible and then I will make him, her, or them regret ever being born, let alone harming a single hair of my son. And that's a promise!"

Ash then turned around and stalked back down the road leading to the small village near the castle all the while seething silently inside. Not even his encounters with the various criminals that made up Team Rocket ever riled him up as bad as he was right now and those had been horrible enough.

Just before he reached his goblin escort, who had waited for him in the spot where they'd landed, Ash was knocked over by the sudden appearance of the missing Trickster as the Pokémon Teleported practically on top of him. Relief made Ash's knees go weak as he knew Trickster would not leave Harry's side if he was still in danger but it also stoked the fires of his rage because it confirmed his fears that Harry _was_ in danger at some point; otherwise the ninetales would not have been anywhere near the castle. Ash had half a mind to storm back up to the gates to make good on his threat but wisely realized his attack would be less than effective without his Pokémon to help him.

Climbing back to his knees, he quickly closed the distance between himself and the waiting goblin. When he noticed Dancer hadn't followed him back from the gate, he whistled sharply. A moment later the fire horse mutinously trotted into view with her head hung low. When she caught sight of Trickster, she whinnied and whickered at the other Pokémon before calming down considerably when Trickster barked a reply. Seeing that he no longer had a potential rebellion on his hands, Ash turned and addressed the waiting goblin, unknowingly echoing Nicholas's earlier demand.

"Please take us back to the bank. I have urgent business with the goblins."

* * *

><p><em>Thursday Evening, October 31, 1991<br>Hospital Ward, Hogwarts Castle  
>Scotland<em>

When Madam Pomfrey came to, she was more than a little confused to find herself on the floor. It took her a few minutes to recall what she was doing just before she'd passed out (wrongly coming to the conclusion that she'd only been out a few seconds) and when she did remember she felt a wave of concern and near panic fill her as she thought of the boy's condition. Rising as quickly as her tangled robes would allow, the school's matron rushed to her patient's side and after a few quick diagnostic spells found his condition stable. The reason for his recovery appeared to be the successful application of a purging spell as the boy had vomited all over himself, the bed, and the floor. That led her to believe her fainting spell was the direct result of magical exhaustion due to the frenzied stress of healing his injuries and then almost losing him to his violent response to the potions (all memories of the strange wolf creature forgotten).

At that point she became aware of the two girls and her colleague as the sounds of sobs and soothing platitudes reached her ears. Drawing her usual professional persona into place, she bustled across the room and immediately began scanning both girls for any injuries. The younger girl, a first years by the looks of it, was suffering from severe emotional shock, multiple cuts and bruises (from flying debris), and an overpowered stinging hex that was still functioning. A few waves of her wand to heal the abrasions on her hands, arms, and face and end the hex coupled with a half dose of a Calming Draught was enough to send the girl into a light doze.

The older girl's injuries were a bit more severe, though no where near the level that the boy's had been. The girl was completely hysterical though, going on and on about killing the boy with her stupidity. Realizing she'd be unable to treat the girl in her current condition, the Healer gave her a firm (but gentle) smack on the cheek to snap her out of her hysterics before informing the inconsolable child that the boy was still healing but very much alive. The injured prefect's reaction was instantaneous about turn of her extreme emotions from abject fear and horror to blissful relief and hope.

Madam Pomfrey didn't waste any time once the girl was calm; she quickly treated the girl's mild concussion with a healing potion and her dozen or so scrapes and cuts. She then performed an in depth scan on the girl's shattered left knee. Regrettably the knee was damaged beyond repair; the patella shattered into dust along with the lower third of her femur and nearly half of her tibia and fibula. The girl would be required to spend at least three nights in the Infirmary in order to fully repair the damage done. The first night would be the most important the girl would nee to have all four damaged bones regrown (after the damaged ones were removed completely) before the injured muscles, tendons, and ligaments could be fully healed.

The girl didn't even flinch when presented with the prospective of regrowing so many bones, her mind still fully occupied by the still form of her fellow housemate across the room from her. Just before Madam Pomfrey administered a dose of Dreamless Sleep, to help the girl sleep through the worst of the pain of regrowing her bones, she requested to be moved into the bed directly beside the boy. Under normal circumstances, Madam Pomfrey would have refused; she always placed boys and girls on separate sides of the ward to prevent them from misbehaving. There was no danger of inappropriate behavior for either the girl or the boy at this point though, both because of their assumed age difference (though that wasn't at all what it was believed to be) and because of their injuries.

So, the guilt-wrecked healer capitulated with the girl's one request and gently used a couple of levitation charms to swap the beds without disturbing or jarring her patient. The remaining female patient in her care was left in place, all alone on her side of the ward; her injuries were minor compared to the other two and she would most likely be released first thing in the morning.

Professor McGonagall had discreetly retreated from the hospital wing at the first opportunity. She needed to report the recent injuries to Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick, who was the Head of House for two of the three wounded children. Notices would need to be sent out to the children's parents in the event that said parents were magicals. Muggle parents were seldom notified of any injuries due to their inability to cope with the nature of the magical injuries that sometimes occurred on the school grounds. This, the staff believed, prevented irate and irrational parents from organizing witch hunts over their child or children's injuries which could be healed so easily; children who in all likelihood would eventually disown their muggle families when they finished Hogwarts.

Once the child was cured or healed, their mail would then be subjected to searches to prevent the child from alerting their parents of their recent injuries or ill health and in extreme cases, if the child in question didn't cease attempting to give that information to said parents, the Headmaster would Obliviate the memory of the incident from the child's mind. This was the main reason why all owls (including those brought to the castle by the students) were mandatorily housed in the school's owlry. The mild Confundus Ward combined with an Instinct Repression Ward and a Destination Redirection Ward allowed the staff to route all out going owls through a security window that would scan each outgoing letter for trigger words; such as attack, injury, hospital, or other similar ones. Those owls would then be grounded by a mild stunning spell until the letter could be more thoroughly searched by one of the staff members and edited if needs be.

The fact that all the owls slept in one convenient location also made it easier to put a hold on all outgoing communications when a situation warranted such an action. Since the inception of the owlry at the turn of the century, only a handful of students had managed to get around the owl restrictions, most of them muggleborn witches and wizards with above average intelligence that were familiar with the concept of coding their letters in order to pass on restricted information. That usually didn't happen though until after said student(s) passed their O.W.L.s at the end fifth year.

Currently, Professor McGonagall was counting on those same wards and restrictions to prevent word of Mr. Ketchum's injuries and the extremely close brush with death that the boy experienced, from getting back to his muggle father. She had just located the headmaster and was approaching him with the vital information about the troll and the injured students when she overheard Hagrid relating a rather volatile encounter with an irrational parent outside the gate.

"Tha' man was near inconsolable with anger and concern, Professor," Hagrid reported. "He swore up and down that his boy was on the brink o'death or some such nonsense. I had ta threaten him just ta get him ta back off. An' afore he left, he practically threaten'd ta tear the school apart iffin he heard even a rumor of the lad being harmed. He even stated plainly tha' he didn't care how serious or minor tha' injury was, he'd come anyway."

"Did you recognize the man?" Dumbledore inquired after barely sparing a glance to acknowledge Minerva's presence.

"Nah, never seen him before, sir."

"Then I'll need you to provide a memory of the incident at the next staff meeting and hope one of them will recognize the man. We'll need to nip this in the bud before things spiral out of control," Dumbledore instructed with a frown as he dismissed the half-giant with a wave of his hand. "You have a report on the troll situation, Minerva?"

"Yes, I found the troll inside the third floor girl's bathroom; which will need to be closed until further notice pending extensive reconstruction. Three students apparently encountered the beast before I arrived, one of my first year lions and two of Filius's eagles; a fifth year prefect and another first year. Unfortunately, both Ravenclaws sustained serious injuries; the boy nearly died and he went into some kind of fit when Poppy gave him his potions, it was terrible to witness. The two girls witnessed the entire thing and became hysterical until the ordeal was over; I'd recommend altering the memory of both first years, if only to spare them the trauma of the entire incident. Convincing the prefect to keep quiet should be easy as well, simply because she blames herself for the boy's injuries."

"That is terrible news indeed," Dumbledore commiserated. "What of the troll?"

"Dead. I suspect the boy performed some massive feat of accidental magic. There were no visible injuries on the carcass so I assume it died on impact as its neck appeared to have been broken. Although, given the state the older girl was in I suppose she could have been responsible as well."

"I see, thank you, Minerva. I trust the students have been treated for their injuries?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey has them sedated up in the hospital ward now."

"Good, good. Do you know the names of all three students involved?"

"Yes, the prefect is Lucy Carmichael and the boy is Harry Ketchum, a last minute muggleborn applicant who'd just moved to England specifically to attend Hogwarts. The last student was Hermione Granger, one of my more promising lions; also a muggleborn."

"I trust you'll watch over the owlry once they are released?"

"Of course, Albus, you know how seriously I take my responsibilities to the school," Minerva sputtered indignantly.

"I know, my dear, calm yourself. It was thoughtless of me to question you, do forgive me," Dumbledore soothed automatically while he internally huffed in annoyance at her overreaction. "I'll leave you to your duties."

McGonagall nodded once and immediately headed towards her office to activate the owl security wards and to notify Filius of his students' injuries.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong>_Now, I just wanted to take a moment to say that I am FULLY aware that Harry's reactions to the potions are extreme. I am also aware that some of his symptoms don't fully fit in with his description of his condition but his condition is fairly unique and in a sense cobbled together by me strictly for a plot device for this story. That issue can best be described as a combination of several diseases, an assortment of medical problems, and a severe allergic reaction: some of which include Diabetes Types 1 and 2 and the chemical imbalances developed through the neglect of his early years. _

_As I said before I chose to develop Harry's condition to reflect the years he spent with the Dursleys, mostly because the majority of FanFic authors never address the lingering physical aspects of prolonged Dursley abuse unless they refer to his stunted growth that they sometimes later have miraculously cured with some quick magical fix. I'm just as guilty of this in some of my stories, one of my unposted ones in particular. So, I wanted to explore the idea of a serious side-effect to the severe neglect that Harry was subjected to at the hands of his relatives because I believe those early years of development are crucial to a child's development. _

_That said, in most cases where Harry's reacts to high amounts of sugar intake (regardless of sugar type) will not be anywhere near as extreme as it is in this chapter. Here, there were several mitigating events that contributed to his reaction. Those are: _

1) Harry hadn't eaten (or drank) anything since lunch (which wasn't much since he'd not been very hungry at the time) several hours earlier.  
>2) Harry's emotions had been hovering out of control ALL day which raised his level of stress.<br>3) Harry had just been severely injured in the confrontation with the troll, lost a lot of blood, and was suffering from prolonged oxygen deprivation (this last a known cause of seizures in real life).  
>and 4) The number and size of potion doses he received was unusually large due to his injuries (and as I'd had Harry reveal earlier the blood replenisher was one of those potions known to affect his blood-sugar levels). Therefore the amount of sugar introduced to his shocked system all at once on top of his injuries induced the extreme reaction I presented in the chapter.<p>

_So there you are; this was my reasoning for this chapter playing out this way. I hope I didn't offend anyone, as that was not my intent. Nor was I using any of the real medical conditions I referenced as a means of insulting or demeaning those individuals who actually suffer from them. _

_As a side note, in case some of you are wondering, Harry's medical condition does NOT contribute to his 'black out' episodes. I'm sure a few of you have guessed what is causing those incidents and a full explanation will come halfway through year two. I'd say more but I'd rather not spoil the plot ahead of time. _

_I'd also like to say that things will get better for poor Harry… the rest of his year will not be as bad as his first two months though there will still be a few minor incidents. I've had many complaints about how Harry should ditch Hogwarts because it's so bad because of the attitudes and the bullying from both students and staff. I know it would be easy to do so but then the story would completely fizzle and die because most of the plot revolves around Harry being at Hogwarts for a few years yet. The reasons for Hogwarts being as bad as it is will be revealed later in the series so I ask you to be patient… And as I said some things will improve now that the worst of the drama has been dealt with though we still have the Stone and Quirrell to address. _

_Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed. ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	13. An Unexpected Ally

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 13: An Unexpected Ally<span>_

_Thursday Evening, October 31, 1991  
>Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley<br>London, England_

The meeting with Ragnok got off to a rocky start as the leader of the goblins was more then a bit irritated with the Flamels for being late, attempting to waylay another customer (one of high standing due to his ready cache of flawless gems, precious metals, and status as the adopted father of the last Potter), and then finally imperiously demanding to be attended to immediately. Only the fact that the Flamels were one of their oldest and most prestigious clients with a not inconsiderable fortune of their own (above and beyond the gold they could make) prevented them from being thrown out of the bank.

Once they settled down to business, things proceeded much more smoothly as Nicholas dove right into business. He pulled out the letter he'd received from Gringotts and the photograph Perenelle had taken of the anomaly on the family tapestry. This led to a brief discussion of Nicolas's suspicion that a Fidelius Charm had been used to conceal the identity of the last remaining heir to the Flamel fortunes. Ragnok patiently listened to the Flamel's concerns and accusations until the man talked himself out. The stately goblin then placed a single folder on his desk and addressed the Flamels in turn.

"As you may or may not know, the Fidelius Charm has no effect on goblins; the nature of our innate magics prevents our minds from being tricked by such feeble spells. We are, however, bound by rules and obligations to keep those secrets for our clients, due to the various treaties and contracts we have signed with your leaders. However, because the spell you refer to denies you what is rightfully yours, in this case the knowledge of your own flesh and blood, I am permitted to provide you with some of the information you seek. There are, however, further complications involving the individual of which we speak which prevent me from giving you a full disclosure."

"Any information you can provide to us would go a long way towards resolving the matter, I'm sure," Perenelle demurred as she leaned forward and penned the goblin with an intense look. "As would the knowledge of whom we'd need to approach in order to work around those complications that restrict you. We will have our grandson, one way or another, no matter what it costs us to establish our legal rights to have the child placed in our custody."

"You could try, but any such action on your behalf would only end in failure do to those same complications," Ragnok dryly pointed out, the goblin in no way intimidated by the woman.

"Please, tell us what you are able," Nicholas implored, feeling every bit of his six hundred plus years.

"Very well," Ragnok sighed as he reached out a picked up the photo of the tapestry and placed in on top of the folder. He had just taken a deep breath and opened his mouth to give them what they wanted, when the door to the private conference room slammed open with great force.

Ragnok glowered at the interruption, while both Flamels jumped because they'd never known goblin wards to be breached so easily without massive bloodshed (wards that had been activated the moment their meeting started). Irate goblin voices poured in from just outside the breach as two very familiar animals (to the goblin leader) gracefully strode into the room on the heels of an extremely angry Ash Ketchum. This was not the timid and frantic man that had turned up at the steps of the bank just a short while ago begging for help. This was the formidable Trainer and Pokémon Master that had faced down the mastermind behind Team Rocket (and various other criminals) multiple times and won. In the shadows behind the man stood the hazy form of a small dragon (by goblin standards) that was singlehandedly holding off an entire patrol of the finest goblin guards.

Nicholas was more then a bit shocked to realize that this was the same man he had tried to accost earlier in the evening regarding his claims of an emergency at Hogwarts. He looked nothing like the terrified parent who'd arrived in a state of near panic before leaving by portkey to make an attempt to check on his son. That the man had managed to breach goblin wards, which should have been impossible even for an extremely powerful wizard let alone an apparent muggle or squib, was astounding and practically unbelievable.

"Mr. Ketchum," Ragnok sternly growled at the man with a tone of indignation.

Both Flamels whipped their heads around to gape at the goblin for a split second before turning back to study the angry young man more closely as they'd easily recognized the man's last name from their Tapestry.

"I need answers," Ash ground out as he stalked forward with the grace of a predator. "And I know you either have them or can get them for me. Those… those… _people_ are holding my son hostage and are attempting to cover up whatever it is that happened up at that _school_. Now, either you help me find out what is going on with my son or I will start tearing this world apart at its foundation starting with that school and I will not stop until someone starts talking and justice has been served. No one, and I do mean no one, harms my son and gets away with it."

"What you ask of us will take time, we goblins are not allowed to step foot on the grounds of Hogwarts. Our treaties with the magical government ensure that we maintain our distance," Ragnok carefully explained as he watched the man intently. "We will also need the cooperation of certain ministry officials."

This only seemed to agitate Ash even more as he gave out a loud scream of rage before he punched the stone wall in frustration. The sickening crunch of breaking bones made even the goblin leader flinch as the man slowly sagged against the wall he'd attacked. "I feel so damned helpless," Ash whispered after a few minutes of tense silence. "I promised to protect him so many times… and it seems like each time I fail him…" here Ash turned to look at the others with haunted eyes. "I'm always arriving too late to prevent his injuries. I hate not being able to protect him… too much of his life has been filled with such pain and horror… and I feel so damned useless."

"And does he share your sentiments?" Nicholas asked softly as the aged sorcerer approached the man and healed his broken fingers and hand with a circumspect wave of his wand.

"No, if anything he blames himself for things outside of his control. I just wish I didn't feel so… so… so inadequate right now."

"Maybe, we can help each other," Perenelle offered cunningly, intent on using the man's distraught emotions in order to find the answers that she and her husband were looking for.

"What do you mean?" Ash carefully demanded; his entire body tensing as he glanced in her direction apprehensively.

"We think you might have information regarding our missing grandson, Monsieur Ketchum," Nicolas bluntly stated as he retrieved the photo from Ragnok's desk and placed it in Ash's hands.

Ash looked down at the picture that had been placed in his hand and immediately thought he understood why these people thought he might be able to help them locate their grandson. The picture showed a small section of a woven tapestry that was embroidered with both Harry's birth name and his adopted name.

"How do I know you didn't weave this blanket yourself? Or simply magicked up this picture with a bit of hocus pocus?" Ash demanded as he tried to figure out if he believed what he was seeing or not. "As far as I know, you two could be the ones behind the imposter that is currently at that school, with my son, walking around with my son's face, and trying to steal his inheritance."

"That photograph is a picture of our Family Tapestry; it is a… living record of our family's history insofar as it relates to our ancestors and our descendants. The magic in this… blanket as you say… is older than this country's current government. It can not be tricked or faked, though we have long known that the magic can be partially blocked. I would be willing to swear a magical oath upon my magic that this photograph is not only authentic but that neither I, nor my wife, wish to harm or steal from your son," Nicholas imperiously spat, his French accent heavier then usual.

"I will vouch for both their intentions and their honesty," Ragnok added. "Your son and their many-times-great-grandson are one and the same."

Ash took a moment to digest both statements before his face clouded over in anger once more. "You have some nerve showing your face now. Haven't you already done enough harm?"

"What are you implying?" Perenelle countered indignantly.

"I'm not implying anything, I'm stating a fact. Why should I let you harm him any more than you already have?" Ash clarified. "I found him, alone and abused, in the middle of an attacking swarm of wild… birds. How can you deny the truth of the matter? He told me himself that his only living relatives hated him!"

"That's not possible… we only just now learned his name…"

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me, considering you only called him Freak or Boy for the three years he was in your care!"

"He was never in our care… we don't even know what he looks like. We've been fighting against Dumbledore for custody of our grandson for over ten years now and his father before him for close to fifteen years. Who is it you think we are?"

"Harry told me when I first met him, just before I adopted him, that he lived with his only remaining relatives and that they treated him worse than dirt," Ash slowly explained. "You've just claimed Harry was your grandson, which logically leads me to believe that you are the relatives he spoke of. You are Vernon and Petunia Dursley, are you not?"

"No, we are not," Nicholas countered. "The name Dursley means nothing to me. My name is Nicholas Flamel and this is my wife, Perenelle. Who are these Dursleys you spoke of and what did they do to our grandson?"

"You're not… oh boy… I… I'm so… um…heh," Ash stuttered as he blushed bright read. "It's just that Harry was always adamant that he lived with his only family before he came into my care twelve years ago and I… er… assumed he meant you since you claim to be his grandparents."

Nicholas made Ash feel even worse when the older man simply raised an eyebrow and continued to stare down at him.

"Right, I'm sorry for flying off the handle, my mother always said I was hot headed and stubbornly single minded when I got hold of an idea," Ash apologized with a weak smile. "It's been a hard two months dealing with the separation and this evening has been nothing but I nightmare. Why don't… why don't we sit down and discuss things so we both know where we each stand."

"It is good to see a man of your age still remembers his manners," Perenelle sniffed as she returned to her seat.

Ash laughed weakly and sank into the nearest chair as Trickster plodded up to Nicholas and began sniffing the older man's shoes. Dancer just whickered plaintively as Charizard gave a muted roar from the hallway outside the small conference room.

"Oh, I forgot!" Ash blurted out as he jumped out of his seat and rushed out the door.

Nicholas, Perenelle, and Ragnok then heard a contrite Ash apologizing to the goblins that remained cut off in the corridor outside as the young man backed into the room pulling the large dragon behind him. When the angry guards made to follow them into the room, Ragnok ordered them to stand down with a sharp command in gobbledygook. The guards reluctantly obeyed as ordered and vanished, closing the door behind them.

The large, but stunted by this world's standards, dragon settled down in the far corner of the room with an irritated huff as Ash returned to his seat. Both Flamels were stunned at the level of control the _muggle _man (Nicholas had checked immediately after he'd healed the man's hand) displayed over such a powerful creature. Not even they could command a raging dragon to stand down (at least not without using borderline lethal spells or just outright killing the dragon). The two elderly magicals then studied the other two animals more closely and were stunned to find what they thought was a dog was actually some type of wolf with several more tails than normal and the horse looked as if its mane and tail were spun from living fire.

"What are these creatures? And just who are you?"

"Oh, well… these are my friends, well Charizard is my friend. I'm just watching over Trickster and Dancer for Harry while he's at school, their bonded to him. And I'm not sure you'd fully understand who I am but I guess you could say, here, I'm just Ash Ketchum."

"I didn't think it was possible to bond two familiars at the same time," Perenelle stated with undisguised curiosity as she leaned forward a bit more to study the amazingly strange creatures.

"Oh, he hasn't, he's actually bonded thirteen… well really only twelve Pokémon over the course of the years since I adopted him. I can't actually count the unown because we haven't seen the exclamation point since we arrived. But then again the unown are a complete mystery." Both the Flamels were now staring at Ash as if he'd grown extra arms and a second head. "I told you that you wouldn't understand," Ash pointed out in amusement as he caught the look they were giving him.

"Now where were we… ah yes, you wanted to know who the Dursleys are, correct?" Ash inquired in an effort to get back to the matter at hand, he was still concerned about what happened to Harry and wanted to get the long winded explanations out of the way so he could find out how these two proposed to help him find out what was going on. When they nodded weakly in reply Ash began the tale of how he discovered Harry on that fateful afternoon twelve years ago.

"I was just days away from my twentieth birthday when I found Harry. I heard his screams long before I saw him, as he was being attacked by a flock of at least a hundred spearows."

"Aren't sparrows tiny?" Perenelle interrupted in confusion, certain she'd misheard the man.

"Yes, compared to their evolutionary form of fearow they are but Harry was pretty small himself at the time. Anyway, when I discovered him under the deluge of bird Pokémon, I quickly waded into the fray with Pikachu in order to drive the flock away. He was hurt pretty bad and I ended up carrying him to an old friend who I knew would be able to help him as I was too far away from the nearest hospital. The next few weeks were crazy; Harry didn't even know his own name at the time, he was frightened to death of all the Pokémon, and completely terrified of any adult he came into contact with."

"He tried to runaway more times than I could count in those early days but we dared not let him vanish into the wilds for fear the very Pokémon that terrified him would kill him. When the authorities became involved things went pear shaped and he ended up lost out in the harsh wilds all alone. It took two days to find out where he ended up and then another three of tracking his trail before I came to a dead end. I spent six months trapped out in the woods hoping to find him. In the end he sort of found me first."

"I learned a lot about the boy that would soon become my son during the trip out of what is known as the Lost Wilds. He wasn't the same frightened boy I rescued six months prior and yet in some ways he still was. His emotional stability was very fragile and he was so insecure about everything. It took him weeks to trust me again but I thank the stars everyday that he did."

Here Ash paused in his telling as he got lost in the memories of his early years with his son before forcing his mind back to the matter at hand and picking up where he left off. "It was during the following months that I gradually learned the details of some of what the Dursleys had subjected the boy to before he showed up in what amounted to our backyard. I'm sure there's a lot more he never told me, too. But basically those people abused him, terribly. He spoke of living in a cupboard for as long as he could remember (he wasn't much older than five years at this point mind you), of long stretches of time spent locked in that same cupboard with little to no food, and of the cruel things those _people_ said to him. They called him Freak or Boy along with any number of other cruel names I'd imagine, which is why he didn't know his own name. He didn't even know when his birthday was or how old he was when I first met him."

"I suspect they physically abused him as well, due to the evidence of older injuries my mother, Professor Oak, and I had noticed underneath the cuts and scratches he'd received from the spearow attack. He has never really confirmed my suspicions but in those first few years he had an aversion to being touched (still does for the most part now that I think about it). He'd flinch at the sound of a raised voice or when he'd catch movement out of the corner of his eye. And as I said earlier, he still doesn't really care for physical contact from strangers or passing acquaintances, though he tolerates it in some situations as long as he sees it coming. I remember the first time my mother sent Harry up to take a bath; he'd filled the tub up with barely a full inch of ice cold water. She later came down and cried on my shoulder as she chokingly explained that she'd had to order him to take warm baths with bubbles and to have a bit of fun in the tub. Her heart broke each time he unknowingly revealed how horribly those people treated him."

"We found out early on that he'd been practically starved for years too. One of the reasons he's still so small compared to other boy's his age. The prolonged malnutrition also left him with a low tolerance for large servings of sugars and other foods with high levels of starch in them. If he eats too much of either he gets violently ill. There were a couple of times he stopped breathing and had his heart fail if he accidentally drank anything overly sweet on an empty stomach too. It's hard to describe unless you've seen him go through it yourself. He doesn't have to completely avoid sugars and natural sugars are better than processed sugars but he does have to pay close attention to what he eats."

"In fact, his sugar levels are one of the things he's been overly concerned with since he got to Hogwarts. Apparently, the school serves an ungodly amount of sugary rich dishes and beverages and until they made arrangements for him to receive a modified diet he was begging me to send him bottled water and snacks to help him get by. He's repeatedly complained to me that the school nurse keeps trying to foist potions on him even after he explained his condition to him and his fears of taking said potions because of their unknown sugar content."

"Most potions don't have sugar in them though," Nicholas pointed out.

"But all plants produce natural sugars throughout their lifetime. The chemical reactions when plants are added into potions could either enhance those sugars or minimize their presence. Healing potions are the biggest risk because they use some of the most potent plants for ingredients in large quantities. One potion by itself, in carefully controlled doses probably wouldn't affect Harry but how often does one receive just a single potion when being treated for say, a broken bone or blood loss? Do doctors and nurses measure doses out on a patient to patient basis or do they usually administer a standard dose regardless of the age or weight of the person they are treating?"

"I'd have to consult my library to confirm your theories but assuming you've done your own research into the matter you would be correct to be concerned," Nicholas allowed as he leaned back in his chair. "Especially since the school currently employs a Healer, not a Mediwitch or wizard."

"What's the difference between the two?"

"To become a Healer only requires two additional years of training after Hogwarts, while to become a Mediwitch or wizard, one needs to complete another three years of intensive training on top of the two additional years required for Healer training. I believe an accurate comparison would be to say that a healer would be considered a nurse in the muggle world while a Mediwitch or wizard would be a doctor. Madam Pomfrey is only a healer, a decent one mind you, but just a healer none-the-less. Any life threatening cases she comes across are mandatorily shunted across to St. Mungo's Hospital once they are stabilized, though there have been rumors over the years that only a quarter of the more serious cases have ever been turned over to the more experienced hospital staff."

"Is there a way I could find out if my son has been transferred to this Moongo's place? If he was injured as seriously as I feared he was (due to the extreme reactions of his Pokémon), he should have been transferred there immediately then, from what you're telling me. Right?"

"_If_ Pomfrey was following procedures, yes," Perenelle confirmed emphasizing the 'if'. "If your son was seriously harmed and she did not send him through to the Hospital then you might be able to make a case against the school and the healer in particular; especially if it was a life threatening injury. But, as a muggle you'd have to find a magical sponsor to lobby your case to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. My husband and I can help you with that, if you wish."

Instead of answering the older witch, Ash turned and gave a questioning look to Ragnok who'd mostly just been observing the conversation and taking notes. "I've already sent instructions to my aide to have the admittance records of St. Mungo's checked for any recent transfers from Hogwarts, if they sent any students there we will know in less than an hour."

"Can you tell us exactly what occurred when you tried to gain access to the school?"

"I lost my temper."

"Oh dear, I hope it wasn't as spectacular of a scene as you created here," Perenelle delicately fished as she gave Ash a look he had often received from his mother when he'd done something particularly stupid.

"I might have acted a little irrational and dropped a threat or two but I didn't actually break any doors down," Ash sheepishly admitted.

"If you will allow us to create a copy of your memory we can view the incident," Nicholas offered.

Once the process was explained, Ash allowed the man to pull the memory from his mind and then all four of them watched the events that occurred during Ash's short trip to Hogwarts, including the startling appearance of ninetales at the end. When they finished, Nicholas kindly returned the memory to Ash's mind before the group sat down and began making plans for the different scenarios that might play out over the next few days. They even considered the possibility that nothing had happened, in which case Ash would offer an apology to the school for over reacting.

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> _And we finally have a true meeting between Ash and the Flamels, Harry won't be meeting them until the holidays in four to five chapters though. The next couple of chapters will have the repercussions of everything that happened on Halloween and everything that happens between Halloween and the winter holidays. ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	14. On the Wings of Truth

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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><p><em><span>Chapter 14: On the Wings of Truth<span>_

_November 01, 1991 to November 06, 1991  
>Potter Property, Northern Highlands<br>Scotland_

Two days later Ash was getting frantic and frustrated once again. Since the day Harry had left for school, he'd been sending letters home on a near daily basis, providing Mule was rested enough to continue bouncing back and forth between the Highlands and Hogwarts, which was a far shorter trip than when Ash spent the night at the London home as he sometimes did. There had been no sign of the persnickety owl since Harry's last letter that had arrived on the afternoon before Halloween though.

Ash had tried sending Noctowl with a short note for Harry but the flying Pokémon didn't actually know where Hogwarts was and didn't have the means to sense Harry's presence from a distance. Ash then tried to send Trickster off with a letter but the mystical wolf had not been able (or willing) to use Teleport again. The ninetales did spend those days after the turbulent events of Halloween night staring off towards the south as if watching over Harry from a distance. At one point Ash desperately wished the owl he and Harry had treated over the summer hadn't flown off the moment it was well enough to fly.

The not knowing was slowly killing Ash inside. The distinct lack of word from Harry seemed to indicate that something had happened, either to Harry or to Mule. Yet there had been no records that any student of Hogwarts had been admitted to St. Mungo's during the last three days and the goblins had people checking the admittance records daily just in case. This meant that either Harry hadn't actually been seriously injured or that the school's healer and other staff were covering it up.

The Flamels had gone home to France to take care of a few things after their late night meeting on Halloween. The elderly couple (Ash nearly fainted when he learned just how old they were) would then return to England at the end of the week so they could work with Ash to find out what had been happening up at the school. Ash had already offered them a place to stay, which they had been reluctant to accept until he mentioned that the property he was currently living on had belonged to the Potter family. The wards surrounding the large section of property had actually been raised by Nicholas when the land had first been purchased nearly three centuries earlier.

If Ash did not hear from Harry by the time the Flamels returned, then the goblins would involve Rufus Scrimgeour, current head of the Auror division under Amelia Bones who was the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. As a ministry official, Head Auror Scrimgeour could enter the school grounds without petitioning the Headmaster for permission. The only problem with involving the well known wizard was that he was known to be a bit of a pompous jerk. Apparently the man had visions of grandeur, setting his sights on the Minister's office with the intent to run the moment Cornelius Fudge stepped down or was voted out of office. To an extent that made Scrimgeour the consummate politician who was more likely to do something if the person he was doing it for had something to offer him in return.

Unfortunately, there was no getting around the man either; as all entreaties requesting an Auror investigation were routed through his office and anything even remotely related to Hogwarts business was handled by him personally. The only exception to that was on the order of Minister Fudge, whom they really wanted to avoid bringing into the equation as the man was the worst sort of politician out there; one who would do anything to keep his office, even thrash the reputation of an underage witch or wizard if they were considered a threat or ignore crucial evidence that could overturn a conviction of an accused criminal.

The rest of Ash's week dragged on endlessly as he began spending more and more of his time parked beside Trickster who had since been joined by Dave, Splash, and Jester. The other Pokémon would participate for short periods of time but they tended to wander off from time to time doing who knew what. Even the seven Pokémon that Ash had brought with him spent several hours a day beside the unmoving and ever watchful ninetales. The evening before the Flamels were due to arrive via a goblin provided portkey, Ash had reached the breaking point and was on the verge of heading off to do something rash and overly stupid when he heard Trickster suddenly begin barking and growling.

Stepping up beside the bristling Pokémon, Ash followed his gaze and saw something approaching through the sky. His heart seemed to back up into his throat as he felt the first tendrils of hope for the first time in days as he prayed the creature approaching was Mule. Then, right before his eyes, whatever had been approaching the property was attacked by a larger bird. "Charizard! Chase off what ever it is that is attacking that bird up there!" Ash ordered without a second's thought. "Noctowl, see if you can help get the bird away from its attacker."

Thankfully, both Pokémon had been in the vicinity at the time and the two of them sprung into immediate action. Noctowl, being the smaller Pokémon, was the first one to reach the aerial battle. The brave owl Pokémon then used its Hypnosis to create an illusion to distract the attacker. Under normal circumstances that move would have bought Noctowl enough time to transport the victim to safety. Unfortunately, the Hypnosis attack didn't affect the creature that was attacking.

Noctowl didn't give up though and used a Quick Attack followed by a Wing Attack that bowled the attacker over. The owl Pokémon then fled the battle as Charizard arrived, pausing only long enough to grasp the injured owl in his claws to carry it to safety. Charizard immediately used a Fire Blast Attack to frighten off the assailant which promptly burst into a ball of flames before exploding into a pile of ash that drifted lazily down towards the earth.

Back on the ground Ash reached out his hands to take Noctowl's burden as the Pokémon swooped down out of the sky. Ash was both relieved and horrified to find that the injured bird was Harry's owl, Mule. The poor thing was exhausted and suffering from multiple jagged cuts along both wings as well as missing several flight feathers. Ash cradled the bird close and ran into the cavern to fetch the first aide kit and a few healing berries so he could treat Mule before finding out what had happened from his son.

Thirty minutes later, the owl was wrapped up securely in a few bandages and safely tucked into a nest of blankets on Harry's sleeping bag in their temporary sleeping quarters. Mule had undeniably been carrying a letter, which Ash presumed was from Harry, though the envelope had been ripped in several places during the short battle. That damage made Ash wonder whether the attack had been a fluke or if someone had been trying to prevent Harry from contacting him; his reason for thinking along those lines being the dozens of predator free trips that Mule had made during the two months leading up to Halloween night.

Ash eagerly tore into the letter hoping there was a simple and harmless explanation for Harry's long (for Ash anyway) silence. He was shocked and disappointed the moment he got one look at the letter. First, it was written with a quill (not a ball point as all of Harry's other letters had been) and second, who ever had written the letter had much better penmanship than Harry. A brief look at the signature sealed the deal as it was signed by a Lucy Carmichael; a name Ash vaguely recalled being mentioned in a few of Harry's letters over the weeks.

_Dear Mr. Ketchum, _

_I don't know if Harry has told you about me, my name is Lucy Carmichael and I am  
>a friend of your son's. At least I would like to think I was Harry's friend, but with<br>Harry, it's sometimes hard to be certain. _

_You're probably wondering why I am writing to you and what my strange friendship  
>has to do with it. I'll be honest with you, I'm terrified of how you will react to what I<br>have to say as I don't know any thing about you because Harry never talks about  
>himself or you. I felt obligated to contact you though because of the indefinable<br>relationship I have with your son and a mistake I recently made and I owe you and  
>your son both an apology.<em>

_I'd been trying to watch over Harry as best I could since he was physically attacked  
>by a seventh year on the first day of classes. I spend quite a bit of my free time with<br>him when our schedules permit it but mostly I just sit with him at meal times and we  
>discuss magical theory or classes. <em>

_On the night of the Halloween Feast, I'd sat beside Harry as usual and spent the  
>first thirty minutes trying to get him to eat something. I know he was hungry at the<br>time because we'd walk into the Great Hall together and he'd mentioned he was  
>practically starving because he hadn't eaten much during lunch. Yet when the food<br>arrived, Harry didn't do anything but glare at the various dishes closest to him. He  
>wouldn't even drink any of the pumpkin juice. <em>

_I think he was trying to explain what was going on when the Feast was interrupted  
>at that moment by one of our professors who announced that there was a troll loose<br>in the castle. For some reason the headmaster sent all of the students back to their  
>common rooms alone once order was restored. It seemed reasonable at the time but<br>now that I think about it we would have been safer if we had stayed in the Great  
>Hall. Harry seemed rather upset over that as well but I am afraid I didn't really think<br>about it until much later. _

_Harry and I ended up at the back of the line as we made our way to Ravenclaw  
>Tower. Our house ended up running across the trail of the troll and we were forced<br>to take a detour in order to avoid it. Harry and I were just about to enter the short  
>cut when we heard someone screaming. It was at this point I made the biggest<br>mistake in my life and it almost cost your son his life. _

Ash had to stop reading at this point as his emotions skittered all over the place. He was beyond pissed that he hadn't been notified of his son's injury; if he had indeed been injured, the letter hadn't really explained anything up to that point. He was also upset with this Carmichael girl because she apparently had something to do with whatever it was that happened to Harry. But he was mostly terrified because it wasn't Harry that was writing to him explaining what had happened and there was no reason for Harry to avoid him (since he was miles away at a boarding school and he knew Harry trusted and respected him enough to be honest with him) which meant that Harry was either incapable of writing the letter or he wasn't being allowed to communicate.

As he sat there trying to pull himself together, Ash couldn't help but notice that the words of the letter were blurred right around the point where he stopped reading. It soon dawned on him that the girl had been crying as she wrote the letter; the bleeding ink smudges could have only been caused by falling tears due to the scattered patterns the drops had made on the parchment. Seeing those tear stains actually lessened the anger Ash might have directed at the girl for her part in the yet unknown fiasco that occurred on Halloween night. Accidents happen to the best of people at the worst of times and that one small sign of remorse on the girl's part let Ash know she hadn't done what ever it was she did with the intent of harming his son.

Gathering his courage, Ash continued reading because he couldn't stand not knowing.

_I'm sure right now you must hate me. I know I hate me for my part in what  
>happened. I should have sent Harry back to the common room or off to find one of<br>the teachers. I would have too, if he'd had a better grasp of the castle's layout. At  
>the time, I feared he would end up lost or run into the troll as we didn't yet know<br>for sure that the girl who screamed was actually trapped by the troll. _

_So, instead of sending Harry off to safety, we both went to see if we could help  
>whoever it was that screamed. When we found the girl, we found the troll too. If you<br>don't know what a troll is, because I don't even know if you are a wizard or a muggle  
>(Harry never said), it's a huge ugly monster with a vicious streak a mile wide. This<br>one stood well over fifteen feet tall and carried a huge wooden club that was nearly  
>as long as Harry is tall. The beast was in a rage when we found it and I stupidly<br>asked Harry to get the girl out while I distracted the troll. _

_Harry was brave. He never even balked or hesitated when I began firing spells to  
>distract and hinder the troll. Unfortunately, all my spells did was further anger the<br>troll. Because of their thick skin, most spells don't really affect trolls. I don't know  
>exactly what went wrong at that point but Harry wasn't able to get the girl out of the<br>bathroom before I tripped over a bit of broken sink and was hit by the troll's club. _

_I must have passed out from the pain or hit my head hard enough to knock me  
>unconscious then, because I have no idea what happened between the moment I was<br>hit and the moment I woke up but it must have been horrible because the first thing I  
>saw when I opened my eyes again was the sight of Harry being crushed in the troll's<br>fist. I was petrified between horror and pain and couldn't do anything but watch as  
>the troll prepared to… I'd read about trolls years ago… I knew that they had a<br>reputation for it… but to actually realize I was going to witness it first hand had me  
>throwing up what little food I had eaten before the Feast was interrupted. <em>

_You see, trolls are notorious in our world for eating flesh. Not just meat but living  
>flesh. And there was no doubt in my mind that the troll… that that <em>_**monster**__ was  
>going to eat your son right in front of me. And it would have been entirely my fault,<br>because I was the one who had asked him to get the other first year out instead of  
>telling him to run for his life.<em>

_How Harry managed to free himself, I'll never know. I suspect his fear and the pain  
>he must have been feeling at the time triggered a serious bout of accidental magic. I<br>do know he was delirious at the time because I heard him calling out nonsensical  
>orders out to someone or something that wasn't there. As best I can remember, he<br>cried out the following from the ground at the troll's feet; _

_**Good job, spy cat. Paralyze him with mean look and then attack with pursuit.  
>Dodge, dodge, faint attack.<strong>_

_Maybe you might be able to make sense of what he meant by it. _

_I think Harry passed out after that but at the time I thought he'd died from the  
>injuries the troll inflicted on him coupled with the six foot drop after the troll let<br>him go. I heard bones snapping when he landed. Not a minute after that the troll  
>stumbled several times before crashing to the ground just a few inches away from<br>my face. I wanted to scream then, because I could see the hem of Harry's school  
>robe sticking out from under the troll's body. Only it turned out Harry wasn't<br>wearing them anymore because I could see him sitting propped up against the far  
>wall only to see him fade from view a few seconds later. <em>

_I kept calling out his name but he didn't answer me. Professor McGonagall  
>appeared shortly after that but I never saw her enter the bathroom. I was too<br>wrapped up in what happened to Harry to care that a professor had finally arrived.  
>The rest of the night is one big blur. I remember thinking Harry was dead or dying<br>but can't recall how I got to the hospital ward from the third floor bathroom. I then  
>remember watching Madam Pomfrey hovering over Harry and I began praying that<br>meant he was still alive. _

_I even saw Madam Pomfrey feed him dose after dose of potion and I felt hope, until  
>I saw his whole body begin thrashing about wildly. Madam Pomfrey became<br>hysterical and nothing she did seemed to help. She cast some sort of spell on Harry  
>but that only made things worse as he began foaming at the mouth and turning blue.<br>I then saw Madam Pomfrey faint. Then the next thing I know Harry's not moving  
>and I thought once more that he was dead. <em>

_I blamed myself then as I still blame myself now. If not for me, Harry would not have  
>been anywhere near that troll. I spent the next three days in the hospital bed beside<br>Harry as I had my own injuries healed. I prayed day and night that he would wake  
>up before I was released but he never did. Even as I write you this letter, he is still<br>laying in that hospital bed unconscious. _

_According to the snippets I overheard from Madam Pomfrey when she didn't think  
>I was listening; he suffered severe blood loss, massive internal bleeding, a collapsed<br>lung, and had close to thirty different broken bones. I'm sure there was more to his  
>injuries, because I sometimes catch the healer fretting over his bed when she doesn't<br>know I'm there, wringing her hands and muttering incoherently under her breath. _

_It was after her latest bout of near panic that I decided to write to you because I  
>hadn't heard whether or not you'd been notified of Harry's injuries. I thought you<br>would have tried to contact Harry if you had known but I never saw his rather  
>standoffish owl during the morning deliveries. I tried finding the bird in the owlry<br>but he never seemed to be there either. It wasn't until I overheard one of Harry's  
>dorm mates complaining about a foul odor coming from his locked room that I<br>suspected the owl might have been locked up in there. _

_I feared the worst, thinking the bird had starved to death trapped inside the castle  
>with no food or water but the smell turned out to be a dead mouse that the owl had<br>left in the middle of Harry's bed for some reason. Apparently Harry had left the  
>window open so his owl could come and go freely any time it wanted. After I<br>resolved to write to you, I returned to Harry's room to write you this letter. _

_Normally, I would have used one of the school's owls to send it off but I was given a  
>warning and an order that I was not, under any circumstances, to contact you or<br>anyone else with this information by the Deputy Headmistress. That only confirmed  
>in my mind that the professors and Madam Pomfrey were trying to cover up what<br>happened to Harry. I'm desperate, Mr. Ketchum. I spoke to the girl we were trying to  
>save just this morning. I asked her if she was feeling better after the attack and she<br>had no clue what I was talking about. _

_She couldn't even remember that she'd been trapped by the troll in the bathroom!  
>How do you forget a fifteen-foot monster trying to kill you? I fear that Professor<br>Dumbledore or one of the other professors modified her memory to make her forget.  
>I'm scared they're going to try and wipe my memory of that night next. It's possible<br>they've already made Harry forget but if I remember correctly they can't do the spell  
>while he's unconscious.<em>

_I'm sorry; I better go before I am caught out of bounds. We're not supposed to be in  
>the boy's dorms except when we're performing routine checks or doing morning<br>wake up calls. Please forgive me, Mr. Ketchum. I never meant for anything to happen  
>to Harry. <em>

_Lucy Carmichael_

_P.S. Please don't write me back as I was forbidden to contact you. _

Ash almost wished the girl had never written to him. Reading the descriptions of the troll, Harry's injuries, and the mass conspiracy to keep him in the dark regarding those injuries made him sick. It also enraged him as he thought about his son lying helpless in some medieval hospital ward near death's door when he should, by all rights, have been transferred immediately to the magical hospital the moment he was stabilized. Ash then frowned as he started searching back through the letter for the girl's description of the healer's treatment that was provided to Harry immediately after he was injured.

When he found the paragraph he was looking for, the blood fled from his face and he grew lightheaded as he knew instantly what had happened. He had seen Harry succumb to seizures due to his condition just once, when the boy had been nine years old and suffering from a severe bout of the stomach flu. Harry had gotten up in the middle of the night and knocked a framed poster off the wall in his rush to reach the toilet before he threw up all over the place. On his way back to bed after washing his mouth out, he'd stepped on several of the shards and sliced both feet open pretty deeply.

Ash had found him two hours later when he got up to take a shower. By that time Harry was dizzy from the combination of the fever from the flu and the recent blood loss. The kid's feet had bled profusely during the night as he'd slumped down and curled up on the floor, his feet hurting too much to walk back to bed and feeling too weak to call out for help due to the toll the flu had been taking on him. Ash had mistakenly given Harry a can of cola instead of one of his low sugar fruit drinks to help settle his stomach and cool him down from the inside out. Harry had drunk nearly a quarter of it before the excessive influx of sugar shocked his system and caused his body to shut down.

On the way to the hospital, Harry's heart had stopped twice and only the tireless efforts of the attending paramedics performing CPR both times brought Harry back from the brink before Ash's eyes. That was the last time Ash ever stocked the refrigerator with soda. Once Harry was stabilized, he'd gone home and emptied more than twenty cans of the cola down the sink without any hesitation as the lingering image of Harry's tiny body thrashing uncontrollably haunted his waking hours; images would go on to haunt his nightmares for months on end.

Even now Ash could easily picture the scene the girl described as various phrases echoed through his mind…

… _his whole body begin thrashing about wildly. Madam Pomfrey… hysterical… nothing seemed to help. She cast some sort of spell… made things worse… turning blue…_

If Ash had been anywhere near Hogwarts right at that moment, nothing would have prevented him from tearing the castle down just so he could kill that woman for her sheer stupidity. He knew… _knew_… that Harry had _repeatedly_ told the idiotic nurse that he was worried about the possible negative side effects of taking those potions. _**She**_ was fully aware of Harry's less than perfect health and yet _**she**_ still _'_feed him_ dose __**after dose **_of potion'_._ She _completely_ disregarded Harry's warnings and concerns and damn near killed his son because she couldn't comprehend his condition or simply refused to believe him about what could happen.

Ash glanced down at the letter in his hand and realized he now had the proof he needed that there was something fishy going on up at the school. Clarity returned to him instantly and he burst into motion. He quickly gathered up the shoe box of letters that Harry had sent to him, documenting the continued confrontations with Madam Pomfrey about taking potions. He tucked the letter from the girl into the envelope it had come in and placed it in the box as well. He then quickly threw on a clean change of clothes, gathered up the wounded owl, Pikachu, and the box of letters, and activated his portkey to Diagon Alley.

He wasted no time once he landed on the steps of Gringotts, charging up the stairs at a dead run that had Pikachu holding onto his shirt and hair for dear life. The guards, easily recognizing the look on his face, wisely stepped out of his way before sending a runner on ahead to warn Ragnok that the 'Dragon Master' (as they'd labeled Ash after the night he'd wiped out an entire scheme of wards with the help of what they thought was an immature dragon) was on the rampage and looking ready to kill once more. That was how Ash ended up marching into Ragnok's office without any hindrance (even the great double doors leading into the room had been left open to prevent him from blasting them apart a second time) to find the stout goblin expecting him. The goblin's no-nonsense and all business demeanor actually calmed Ash's fury enough to allow him to avoid a repeat performance of his less-than-stellar behavior back on Halloween night.

Without saying a word, Ash took a deep breath and set the injured Mule down on Ragnok's desk before slamming the box of letters down beside the owl, causing both Ragnok and Mule to jump at the loud thump. Ash then spoke in a monotone that screamed of barely suppressed rage, "My son's owl was attacked less than an hour ago as it attempted to deliver a letter. This is my son's owl and as you can see he was seriously injured during the attack." Ash then opened the box and pulled out the letter from Miss Carmichael before continuing on in the same tone, "This is the letter Mule, the owl, was carrying at the time. When I first removed it from Mule's leg, I fully expected it to be from my son. It is not. Read it. I am far too furious right now and discussing that letter right this minute isn't going to help me to not lose control."

Silently, Ragnok opened the envelope and removed the shockingly long and moderately detailed letter. The further he read the better he understood what it was that stirred up the dormant rage of the man standing before him. When he read about the defeat of the troll, the goblin felt a slight twinge of regret that he had not been able to witness such a battle (he was a goblin and goblins were born and bred warriors, after all) but he didn't give the human any indication of those feelings as he quickly moved on to the next part of the letter.

The next bit, listing the partial treatment of the boy, was the most serious information. The letter clearly documented a breach of the Medical Procedures as written by the venerable Headmistress and Mediwitch, Dilys Derwent who implemented the procedures at Hogwarts in the year seventeen forty-three after the healer assigned to the school attempted to treat an injury beyond her capability and ended up killing a young daughter of a prominent pureblood line. Healer Pomfrey had also violated the Healer's Creed she'd sworn a verbal oath to uphold when she received her practitioner's license. She had spuriously disregarded a patient's preexisting condition that nearly led to said patient's death.

"Do you have any proof that Healer Pomfrey was fully aware of your son's condition? I know you spoke of it briefly but I don't recall exactly what you said."

"I do, that box holds every single letter Harry has sent to me since the day he left for Hogwarts. Each letter was dated by Harry when he sent it and by me on the day I received it, I then stored each one in its original envelope, and filed them in this box in chronological order. Starting from Harry's third letter, which was attached to the second letter he sent, he complained of the healer's persistence regarding his refusal to drink any healing potions. He also stated the fact that he had informed at least two other staff members of his condition, so it wasn't just the healer that knew."

Ragnok nodded to show he heard and understood before continuing with the letter. By the time he reached the end, the goblin leader was practically reeling with all of the startling revelations and damaging evidence that one simple girl had supplied on the simple fluke of befriending one boy and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Medical foul-ups and possible malpractice, broken oaths, cover-up conspiracies, illegal under-age obliviations, a hint of veiled threats directed towards another student, and the failure to notify at least one parent (possibly two) of a child's close (and lingering) brush with death were just a few of the things wrong with the entire incident.

"Would you be willing to provide Magical Law Enforcement with a copy of the memory of the attack on your son's owl? Any memories you can provide with an extreme example of an episode involving your son's unique medical condition might prove expedient as well," Ragnok said as he returned the letter to the envelope and carefully placed it back in the shoebox of letters. "If you will agree, I can have an Auror from the ministry here first thing tomorrow along with some Gringotts' best legal advisors."

"For now, I will do this your way but the moment it goes belly-up, I will go to Hogwarts myself with Charizard and start razing that damned castle to the ground. They nearly killed my son and now refuse to own up to it and I always keep my promises."

"You do realize that they will use those threats as a basis for withholding this information, yes?"

"Whether they do or not, they can't hide the fact that they stuffed up. All they had to do was let me in to check on my son, right then and there, and not only could I have prevented the Healer from poisoning my son with her potions (after she'd been warned) I could have provided the means to help him heal by using the berries you goblins are so interested in. Those berries have exceedingly low levels of fructose, even the sweeter ones don't have that much sugar in them, and Harry's body has adapted to them and therefore reacts positively with their healing abilities."

There was nothing Ragnok could say to dispute that.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _uh-oh… somebody's in trouble now. *weg* The next chapter will show the reactions of the Hogwarts staff to the troll incident and the meeting between Ash and Rufus. Things will start moving a bit faster after that as the rest of the fallout settles and we move forward to the winter holidays and Harry's first meeting with the Flamels. _

_One reviewer expressed a bit of confusion over Ragnok's non-reaction to basically being ignored by the humans in his office in the last chapter. The answer is that the goblins respect two things; wealth and power. The Flamels and the Ketchum/Potter Family both have obvious wealth and Ash had just displayed he had the ability to destroy goblin wards (with the help of Trickster and the other Pokémon with him but the goblins don't necessarily know that) while he commanded the dragon that held off a small portion of the goblin army. _

_Hence, while the Flamels and Ash carried on their business, Ragnok simply went about making plans to aide both clients because he saw it as a means of placating Ash's anger and frustration and because he expected to reap the benefits later in the form of cash or material goods (such as the berries the goblins were so interested in or maybe a breed of dragon that were far more intelligent than the ones they currently used as vault guardians and far easier to control – I mean really, Charizard is no slacker despite his rather short stature). _

_Anywho… thank you again for all of the wonderful reviews! ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	15. Heated Meetings

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 15: Heated Meetings<span>_

_Friday Evening, November 01, 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

As the last staff member (one Argus Filch) slouched into the castle's staff room for the emergency staff meeting intended to deal with the aftermath of the most recent incident the night before, Dumbledore called the meeting to order with a flash of bright purple sparks from his wand.

"Thank you all for arriving promptly," Albus began as he twinkled at them over his glasses. "As I am sure you are all aware, we are gathered here tonight to discuss the troll incident that interrupted the feast last night. I know there are several memory reports that we will need to view in addition to a few written and verbal reports so I ask that you all be patient with each other as I expect this meeting will drag on for at least a couple of hours. To start, I'm opening the floor to Quirenus so that he might inform us how he happened across the troll in the first place. Quirenus?"

"I was on m… m… my way t… t… to the f… f… feast. I was ru… running l…late and t… t… took a short c…cut from m… my office. I en… nded up st… st… stumbling across the b… b… beast near the entrance and saw him g… ga… going d... down the st… stairs t…to the d… du… dungeons. I then di…did t…try m… m… my buh… best t… to warn you of the d…dan…danger," Quirrell stated as he stuttered horribly over his words while his voice rose and fell sharply at scattered intervals.

"Thank you, Quirenus, for that… enlightening report," Dumbledore patronized with just the barest hint of sarcasm audible in his tone. If any of the others heard it, they didn't show it as they patiently waited for the next person to present their information to the group. "Minerva, if you would?"

McGonagall's report took the form of a memory that Dumbledore placed in his pensive and played above the rune-carved bowl so that everyone present could view the memory at the same time. It started from just after Dumbledore ordered the prefects to lead their housemates back to their common rooms and followed the stern transfiguration mistress as she searched the west corridors on the first and second floors before heading up to the third floor, where she ran into the obviously upset Miss Granger.

On the other side of the table, Severus Snape sneered at one of his least favorite kind of students; a first year Gryffindor muggleborn that was far too full of herself and who tried way too hard to show off how much better she was than the purebloods and halfbloods. Severus took great enjoyment in knocking her, and others like her, down a notch or two during his classes. He especially loved to see them cry and break when he purposefully failed them time and time again.

When the miniature McGonagall stepped into the bathroom indicated, the female members of the staff, and Filius, all gasped at the sight of the mass destruction, injured student, and humongous troll carcass that nearly filled the entire room. All of them, regardless of where they were positioned around the table, could easily see the tattered bit of school robes obviously buried under the crushing weight of the dead troll. Exhalations of relief were then issued from practically everyone one present (barring Quirrell, Snape, Filch, and Dumbledore) when the perspective of the memory changes and showed them the injured boy propped up against the wall in the macabre image.

"Flouting the rules," Snape hissed he the unpleasant man took note of the non-approved articles of clothing the boy had been wearing under his robes. "Near as bad as that Potter brat."

"Be silent, Severus," Flitwick growled back fiercely, the short wizard greatly effected by the sight of his injured students.

The memory faded shortly after Madam Pomfrey arrived in the bathroom to treat the young Ravenclaw and the staff members shifted uncomfortably as they waited for the next report to take place.

"Severus, please tell us what you discovered while hunting for the intruder," Dumbledore instructed after letting everyone fidget uncomfortably for a few minutes.

"I first escorted my Slytherins down to the dungeon, since that was where Quirrell had reportedly sighted the troll. I found no traces of the beast at all, so once I reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room, I sent the children inside and instructed my prefects to take a head count to ensure that none of them had gone missing," Severus practically purred as he cut his eyes over first to McGonagall and then to Filius to see if his subtle barb had hit home. It had… in both cases.

Severus then allowed an almost smug grin to flutter across his face before he continued giving his report, "At that point, I retraced by footsteps to see if I missed any clues but found none, not even the… unique stench of the troll lingered in the dungeon corridors. I then began systematically checking the east passages as I moved up through the floors, until I came to the third floor and discovered that the wards on the out of bound corridor had been tampered with and risked peeking into the chamber of the Cerberus. The animal was unharmed and fully cognoscente of its surroundings but highly agitated which I assumed meant someone had disturbed the beast sometime between the… discovery of the troll and the time I approached the corridor."

"Thank you, my boy, you've done well," Dumbledore praised a little too lavishly. "Hagrid, you're next."

Hagrid gave a brief verbal account of his watching over the Hufflepuffs as they headed down to their lower level common room before talking about how he'd found troll spores in and around the main doors. He was just getting ready to go fetch Fang, so the cowardly boar-hound could help him follow the trail of the 'wee beastie,' when he heard someone hollering and carrying on just outside the gates of the school. At this point Dumbledore played the memory he'd collected from Hagrid the night before so the other staff members could view the wizard (as Dumbledore didn't believe a mere muggle could fight through the wards surrounding the school) and hopefully identify the man so they knew who they needed to keep an eye out for.

"_You may have won this round," the man whispered dangerously. "But mark my words, if my son was harmed tonight… by __**any**__one or __**any**__thing up in that castle… if he has suffered so much as a strained muscle, let alone a life threatening injury, and I find out about it after the fact because you refused to let me in now, I will tear this castle apart stone by stone until I find the person or persons responsible, and then I will make him, her, or them regret ever being born let alone harming a single hair of my son. And that's a promise!"_

As the last words and tiny image of the angry young man faded from view, there was absolute silence from the gathered staff. The man's rage, even second hand through the memory, was palpable to all present. Even Dumbledore hadn't been prepared for the passion and conviction the man had exuded, as he'd basically threatened to destroy the castle just to get revenge upon some unnamed assailant.

"Does anyone know how that wizard…?" Dumbledore began when he was abruptly interrupted by a pale and shaking Pomona Sprout.

"That was no wizard, Albus," Pomona stated in a trembling voice. "That was Mr. Ketchum, Harry Ketchum's father."

"Oh dear," Minerva gasped as she immediately understood the implications as she exchanged a frightened look with Madam Pomfrey.

"That name is familiar; refresh my memory, Minerva, why do I know that name?" Dumbledore implored as he honestly struggled to remember the significance of the name Ketchum.

"Harry Ketchum was the young first year Ravenclaw that was nearly killed by the troll," Pomfrey answered in her colleague's stead.

"His father is nothing more than a useless muggle," Snape snapped irritably as most of the other staff members quailed frightfully as they too grasped the potential disaster. "What can one pathetic man do against the wards of this castle?"

"You mean those same wards he stormed right through?" Filius demanded as he stood up in his chair to make himself appear taller. "The same man, who I might add, obviously knew something had happened long before the incident had finished playing out?"

"What is young Mr. Ketchum's current condition, Poppy?" Charity Burbage, the new Muggle Studies professor inquired after everyone spent a few seconds dwelling on the mystery of how the man had come to know his son was in danger.

"St… stable," Pomfrey stuttered out nervously. "But critical. He's unconscious and un… re…responsive to… to my continued attempts to rouse him so that I may continue treatments. His… his body rejected the st… standard healing potions, further complicating his recovery."

"Are you saying you disregarded Mr. Ketchum's warnings regarding his condition?" Filius ground out in shock and agitation as he rounded on the obviously frightened healer. "I was there that first day, I know he explained quite thoroughly and clearly his concerns regarding any application of medicinal potions!"

"He was dying, Filius!" Pomfrey exclaimed. "What was I supposed to do, sit by and just let him!? All because of what I thought was some cock and bull story about him being allergic to sugar?"

"You should have turned him over to St. Mungo's if you couldn't deal with his injuries!" Filius angrily snapped back without remorse.

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore bellowed. "This meeting is getting out of hand. Minerva, Filius, and Pomfrey, please stay so we can discuss Mr. Ketchum's medical file and conditions. Everyone else, dismissed!"

Once the others had left, the tension rose several notches as the discussion Dumbledore attempted to hold degenerated into a shouting match that would have been heard outside of the castle walls if not for the numerous silencing charms and privacy wards that had been layered on the very walls of the staff room through the centuries. Dumbledore soon gave up trying to mediate the argument and instead simply shielded all three staff members once the spells started flying. He sometimes wished all of his professors could be replaced with ghosts; ghosts were much more biddable and far less impetuous that the living. They also didn't require salaries.

The next morning, once their tempers had cooled, plans were made to suppress the knowledge that the young Ravenclaw had been mortally wounded during the encounter with the troll. Dumbledore ordered Snape to Obliviate the Gryffindor girl while Professor McGonagall sat down and all but bullied the Ravenclaw prefect, who had been witness to both the battle with the troll and the difficulties during the boy's healing ordeal, into silence. It was also decided that the young Ketchum boy would have his memory modified the moment he awoke, if he ever awoke, so that he couldn't spill the beans the next time he saw, or wrote, his father.

The records were searched and all of the adults involved in the cover-up were relieved (or pleased in Dumbledore's case) to discover that the boy had no familiar listed on his application, and all of them assumed that this meant the boy didn't have a non-school owl on hand to send messages prior to having his memory modified. It was also noted that Mr. Ketchum never spent any time in the Owlry as the Signature Recognition Ward had never registered his magical signature as being present near the messenger birds. This led them to believe Mr. Ketchum had not yet written any letters home to his father during the short two months school had been in session. They therefore didn't think a counterfeit letter was needed in order to throw off the father's suspicions if the boy's apparent coma continued for more than a day or two.

At the end of the week, Dumbledore had been taking a leisurely walk around the grounds after supper when he noticed an owl leaving from one of the tower windows that wasn't anywhere near the owlry. He frowned as he watched the bird wing freely away unaffected by the routing charms that should have sent the bird through the security window. He immediately suspected the letter contained sensitive information, either about the Stone safely tucked away on the third floor or about the unchanged condition of one troublesome student.

Dumbledore cut his walk short right then and strode purposefully towards his office in hopes he might be able to send his phoenix clone after it in time to waylay the bird and either steal or destroy the note. Luck was with him; he could still make out the black spec of the bird as it flew north, and in the blink of an eye, Fawkes the 'phoenix' was hot on its trail. Using the complicated monitoring charm that linked Albus's eyes with those of his versatile clones, the old wizard was easily able to both watch and direct his creation as it sped after the owl.

They were deep in the heart of the Highlands when the faster phoenix finally caught up with the smaller owl, and Albus quickly had the clone attack the other bird. He was clearly winning as he watched the transfigured diamond claws ripping into the wings and feathers of the owl and the letter it carried, when the strangest owl he'd ever seen appeared out of nowhere and tried to rescue his prey.

Dumbledore had the phoenix turn on the newcomer and suddenly felt the world around him ripple as if some sort of spell had been cast upon his clone. He shook off the sensation though and continued to attack the other bird in hopes of chasing it off so he could finish off the first owl. The freakish owl then physically barreled into the phoenix's transfigured body before flapping its stronger wings fast enough to create a powerful gust of wind that blew 'Fawkes' and the consciousness of Dumbledore backwards. Before he had a chance to use his magic to steady the clone, an orange dragon filled his vision just seconds before a huge blast of fiery flames consumed Fawkes's body completely and abruptly thrust Albus back into his body.

"What in Merlin's name was _that_ all about!?" Dumbledore exclaimed as his entire body exploded with pain the moment he tried to move. As he recovered, it dawned on him that he'd just lost the heart of his phoenix clone and he would be forced to create a new one within a day or two or someone would notice the absence of his familiar and start asking questions; not to mention he'd not been able to retrieve or destroy the letter the owl had been carrying. The twenty minutes Dumbledore spent cursing would have made a sailor blush.

* * *

><p><em>Thursday Morning, November 07, 1991<br>Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley  
>London, England<em>

Gringotts bank on the morning after Ash had received the letter from Miss Carmichael was the sight of an intense meeting between Ragnok, Rufus Scrimgeour, Ash Ketchum, the two Flamels, Amelia Bones, and two unnamed wizards that Ash figured were the legal consultants Ragnok promised. Cloistered deep in the hidden halls of the huge fortress, five of the eight individuals sat around a hexagon shaped table that looked like a triangle that had had the tips sheered off so that three of the sides were far shorter than the other three sides. Ash, Rufus, and Ragnok each sat at one of these smaller sides, while the legal experts were seated side by side between Ash and Ragnok directly across from Rufus. The Flamels were actually seated behind a Notice Me Not Charm off to one side of the room while Amelia was hidden somewhere behind Rufus.

If it made the Head Auror uncomfortable to be facing the others alone, he didn't show it as Ragnok began laying out the evidence Ash and the goblins had gathered regarding Hogwarts' breach of trust. This included several memories, the letters, wizarding photos of Mule's injuries, the St. Mungo's Register for the past week, a blank Hogwarts' Application (exactly like the one Ash filled out so he could enroll Harry at the school), a copy of his completed application (taken before he'd sent it off to the school), and several magical copies of the _Healer's Oath_, _Hogwarts' Medical Procedures Handbook for Healers_, and the book titled _Headmaster Duties_ written by Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw (recently translated into Modern English from Old English by Bathilda Bagshot when she wrote her book, _A History of Magic_).

Once all the evidence (except for the memories) had been reviewed, the debate and negotiations began. Rufus started off by stating that the Ministry didn't usually interfere with the day-to-day running of the well-known school of magic. He then gave a sly smile and asked what it was worth to Ash for that unwritten rule to be broken. This had not been unexpected, as Ragnok had hinted that Rufus worked on a political agenda rather than one geared towards justice. The strategy they'd worked out was one that worked best for Ash; he was going to be allowed to openly show his rage and then Ragnok would step in to mediate, making Rufus (and by extension the Ministry) owe a debt of gratitude for the goblin nation. It was then that the Flamels would play the trump card of the boy in question being their only living heir after introducing themselves.

It worked like a charm, too; once Scrimgeour basically hinted that he would only proceed to attempt to bring the school staff to task in exchange for an unspoken benefit that he would receive, Ash literally exploded in rage. It wasn't just a show he put on for the benefit of their plan either; he was still in a wrathful mood from the day before, his anger had only been simmering under the surface of the most tenuous control.

The irate Pokémon Master had shoved the table into the wizard, catching him completely off guard, and asked in a deadly whisper; "Is it worth your life and the lives of every adult that is associated with running that farce of a school?"

Rufus attempted to pull his wand, which was in a thigh holster, only for Charizard to materialize out of the shadows and grasp him from behind. Before the grizzled Auror could see who (or what) had restrained him, Pikachu jumped up onto the table and shocked him with a mild Spark Attack that grabbed Scrimgeour's immediate attention. Ragnok was preparing to interfere right at that moment when something unexpected occurred. In the center of the table, between Ash and Rufus, a shape shimmered into being.

Ash, Ragnok, and the Flamels instantly recognized Harry's ninetales, Trickster, but Rufus had no idea what the creature was other then that it looked like an angry and vengeful wolf. Before anyone could say a single word, the wolf-like creature was engulfed completely in flames and out of the flames played the memory of Ash and the Pokémon cutting through the not inconsiderable army of the goblins on the night of Halloween. It also showed the relative ease with which the group had taken down the wards surrounding the office of the Goblin Leader. When the memory faded the flames faded with them and the glowing blue eyes of the ninetales seemed to swell and grow. A heartbeat later all that remained of Trickster was a huge after image of his burning eyes hanging in the middle of the table, before those too faded even as Charizard let go and disappeared back into the shadows.

Ragnok, once he recovered, quickly stepped in and asked Ash to calm down; something that took several minutes since Ash was the only one who hadn't been affected by Tricksters display. Rufus, as expected, was more than a little indignant over what happened, and the Auror attempted to threaten Ash with arrest for threatening an Auror. Ash didn't even flinch; in fact he dared or maybe taunted Rufus with a snide 'just try' that made Rufus's face go red. When Scrimgeour then attempted to go for his wand a second time, a soft growl from his left made him freeze. Trickster was once more on top of the table lounging lazily with Rufus's wand propped up between his front paws. As they watched, the ninetales bent down and gnawed on the slim rod of wood all the while staring into Scrimgeour's eyes. The wizard visibly flinched and swallowed nervously as he carefully sat back in his chair.

The Flamels would have jumped in at that point, but Rufus caved in and agreed to help before they had a chance. The reason for this was soon apparent as a previously unseen Amelia Bones shimmered into view behind Rufus with her wand digging into the Head Auror's neck; her appearance surprised both Ash and the Flamels. Ragnok had notified the Department Head about their meeting and the expected fallout without anyone else's knowledge. She had been the goblin's guarantee that the meeting wouldn't get out of hand.

The rest of the meeting progressed smoothly as plans were laid out for a Wizengamot case against the school's healer for malpractice, though they called it a breach of oath. Additional charges would be brought against the staff of the school for withholding critical information regarding a student's condition but those charges may or may not stick because of Ash's threats on Halloween night. Ash stated that so long as the healer was replaced with someone more concerned with the students' health and that he was able to retain a restraining order against the healer to keep her from even approaching his son, he'd be satisfied. This required a lengthy explanation of what a restraining order entailed (there was nothing comparable in the wizarding world) and a compromise presented in the form of an Unbreakable Vow (wherein the healer would be required to swear on her life never to approach either Ketchum with the intent to harm or heal either the man or the boy).

Two Aurors were then assigned to begin an investigation into the matter along with the lead Obliviator, who would test each student implicated in being involved for traces of a Memory Charm. There was also a request for two Mediwizards and a Healer to meet the investigation team at the gates of Hogwarts so they could take over Harry Ketchum's care. Ash would then be escorted to the school by Rufus and Amelia so that he could see his son and be on hand to explain Harry's condition to the Mediwizards. The meeting broke for lunch at that point with an agreement for all those heading to Hogwarts to meet on the steps of Gringotts at precisely one thirty, at which time they'd take a goblin made portkey to Hogsmeade.

At one thirty-three, a group of eleven witches and wizards and one muggle were gently dropped down on the Hogwarts side of Hogsmeade Village. The group then traveled as one towards the gates of the school, where a nervous Hagrid would greet them at one forty-two and be required to allow them entry onto the grounds.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _A big thank you to everyone who's reviewed the story so far and to those who have added this story their alert/favorites lists. ~ Jenn_

**02-05-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	16. Scapegoats and Magical Oaths

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 16: Scapegoats and Magical Oaths<span>_

_Thursday Afternoon, November 07, 1991  
>Hospital Wing, Hogwarts Castle<br>Scotland_

Madam Pomfrey was in the midst of performing her afternoon diagnostic scan over Harry's inert form when three wizards in lime-green healer robes rather noisily entered the hospital ward, followed by eight witches and wizards in Auror red, and a man dressed in muggle jeans, black t-shirt, and a white and blue jacket wearing a red and white hat. Pomfrey paled the moment she recognized the man as Harry's Ketchum's father and would have fainted if not for the presence of her fellow healers invading her sanctuary.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" Pomfrey blustered as she tried to shake off her growing fear.

"Healer Pomfrey, you are hereby suspended from your duties at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry pending a medical and criminal investigation into the inappropriate and near fatal mistreatment of one Harry Ketchum, first year Ravenclaw student at said school. You will relinquish your mediwand and vacate these premises immediately. You are also to report to St. Mungo's Board of Mediwizardry promptly at nine a.m. sharp on Monday morning to submit to a Breach of Oath hearing. Failure to comply with these orders will result in your immediate dismissal from your position at Hogwarts, a revocation of your Healer's License, and a minimum of twenty years in Azkaban Prison for a Breach of Faith and Intent to Harm," Rufus Scrimgeour intoned robotically as he read from the parchment he held in his hands.

Pomfrey considered protesting but the stony looks on the faces of her colleagues from St. Mungo's caused what little courage she still had to wilt. With as much dignity as she could muster, she reluctantly passed over the universal healing wand in her hand to the senior Mediwizard present before heading to her office.

"Stop!" Rufus barked before she reached the door. "I'm afraid you will at this time be unable to retrieve any personal belongings from your office or quarters. We have a warrant to search both rooms in addition to this hospital for evidence relating to the investigation into the Breach of your Oath. If there is anything you will need from any of those rooms, please provide a list to my Aurors and they will retrieve said items in your stead (providing they are not related in any way to our investigation) and hand them over once you are outside of the school's wards."

The school healer nodded weakly and asked for a quill and parchment on which to write down the list of items she would need. She only jotted down a few small things on the list before turning it over to a young female Auror. She was then escorted out of the hospital wing to a nearby room where she could wait, under the watchful eye of another Auror, until the belongings she requested could be located.

Shortly after Pomfrey had been essentially evicted from the Hospital Ward, an irate Albus Dumbledore, followed by Professor McGonagall and a sheepish Hagrid, strode forcefully into the room and demanded that the intruding group of Aurors, Healers, and Mr. Ketchum leave immediately after spouting some nonsense about them interfering with Hogwarts business.

Ash, who'd immediately migrated to his son's bed, snorted disdainfully and rudely turned his back on the headmaster in a show of defiance. He then drawled out a decidedly unfriendly, "not happening," that put Professor McGonagall on edge over the disrespect shown to Dumbledore. Before the indignant professor could defend her superior, though, Amelia Bones spoke up and overrode Dumbledore's objections to their presence by issuing the warrant of investigation that had been awarded by both the Minister and the majority vote of the Wizengamot just thirty minutes earlier.

At that point the investigative team set about their job as the two Mediwizards from St. Mungo's descended on Harry's bed and began running their own extensive scans on the boy's current condition while the Healer with them headed to Madam Pomfrey's office with the last Auror to begin searching for any records pertaining to Mr. Ketchum's current and past medical treatment since the start of term.

Ash ignored the activity going on all around him as he sat clutching Harry's left hand with one hand while he carded his fingers through Harry's hair with his other hand. He leaned his head down against Harry's forehead and whispered encouragement and soothing endearments in the hopes that his son would hear him. Every so often one of the Mediwizards would ask Ash a question regarding Harry's condition that he would need to answer but otherwise he ignored the two men and their waving wands.

Sometime later that night, long after Mediwizards had withdrawn to study the results of the scans and compare them to Harry's records, Ash heard a timid young voice calling his name.

"Mr. Ketchum?"

"Yes?" Ash replied automatically without looking away from his son.

"I… I'm Lucy Carmichael."

Ash finally turned from his son and looked over to see a young lady with long brown hair dressed in black robes trimmed in blue nervously hovering at the end of Harry's bed. She looked haggard and on edge as she shifted from foot to foot and Ash sensed that she was fully expecting him to yell at her for her part in leading Harry into danger.

"I owe you my gratitude, Miss Carmichael, for watching over my son," Ash whispered hoarsely. "He spoke of you a few times, in his letters home, about the times you watched over him after he was bullied so early in the year. Admittedly, he did call you… how did he put it? Ah yes he said that you were, and I quote, 'a forceful young woman that is nearly as stubborn as I am' or something along those lines. He also said you reminded him of his grandmother, which was his way of complimenting you. My mother is, herself, a force to be reckoned with and at the same time one of the nicest and most caring women I have ever met."

"I don't deserve any praise," Lucy countered forlornly. "It's my fault he was hurt."

"No, the only thing you are guilty of is trying to save another student from a horrible fate. Harry, I'm certain, knew full well what he was getting into when he followed your lead. Like any true battle, things got out of control and there was nothing you could do from that point forward. Second guessing your choices after the fact will only drive you mad if you dwell on them."

"I… I expected you to hate me."

"I admit I was angry at first but by the time I actually finished reading the letter I realized that you were no more at fault than I was for enrolling Harry at Hogwarts in the first place. The true blame lies on the teachers that let students wander through the halls unprotected, and whoever allowed the creature into the castle in the first place. You, Harry, and that other girl were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Is... is Harry going to be alright?" Lucy asked tentatively.

"Once he wakes up, yes, he will be just fine. This isn't the first time he's been seriously injured and I'm sure it won't be the last."

"Not my fault," Harry pointed out weakly, catching both Lucy and Ash off guard.

"Harry!" Ash cried. "Thank heavens, how do you feel?"

"My head hurts… it hurts to breathe… and I feel like I was hit by shock mouse. Haven't felt this bad since you let me drink soda."

"It wasn't Pikachu this time, Sport," Ash laughed weakly as he squeezed Harry's hand. "How long have you been awake?"

"Off and on… never… more than… second or two… 'til now… always alone… keep feeling… missing… I've… forg…" Harry tried to explain as he slowly slipped back into unconsciousness.

"Harry? Sport? Damn, he's out again," Ash growled. "Can you see if you can find one of the doctors and let them know he was briefly awake?"

Within moment both Mediwizards and the Healer had once again descended upon Harry, and both Ash and Lucy were none too gently pushed out of the way as they went to work. As they stood relatively forgotten, Ash turned to the young lady and asked in a low voice, "In all the time that you've spent with Harry, has he ever spoken of his two… familiars… that snuck into Hogwarts with him in his trunk?"

"Uh… no… I've only seen his owl a few times. I had no idea he had more animals with him. Why?" Lucy replied in surprise.

"That section in your letter, where you thought Harry was delirious? He was actually directing one or possibly both of the animals in a coordinated attack against the troll. I didn't see them in the hospital with him though and had hoped you were watching over them for him while he was out of it."

"Oh… what kind of animal are they? I can't imagine either a cat or a toad being able to follow directions that well and as far as I know any other kind of pet is forbidden at Hogwarts, except owls."

"I guess they're sorta like cats but more like foxes… they are um… rather unique to this world and considered pretty rare back home."

"Oh. What are their names? Maybe we can call them, if there any where nearby."

"Dilemma is the name of the girl and the boy wasn't named when I last saw him but from what you said in your letter, I'd have to guess Harry named him Spy Cat, as the rest of his mutterings were types of attacks that one of the er… uh… fox-cats can be taught when they reach a certain level."

Right after he finished speaking, Ash felt something tugging on his pant leg but when he looked down he couldn't see anything there. He stared down in puzzlement until he recalled the special collars the goblins had given him for the two Pokémon. Smiling suddenly, he glanced around the hallway where they had been told to wait by the healer until he found a likely place to speak a little more privately.

"Come with me," Ash insisted as he gently grabbed Lucy's elbow and led her to the small classroom across the hall. Just before he closed the door, he gave a short, sharp whistle that made Lucy look at him funny. He smiled at her as he closed the door and then knelt down on the floor as two unnoticeable bundles plowed into him.

"Mr. Ketchum? Are you still there?" Lucy called out as the man seemingly disappeared before her eyes. Two minutes later, he reappeared in the exact same place with two strange creatures sprawled across his lap and sitting on his shoulder. "Oh Merlin! What are those?"

"This is Dilemma, Harry sometimes calls her Dilly or Emma for short," Ash stated as he gave the brown creature on his shoulder a fond pat. He then gave the larger black cat-like creature in his lap a few pats before adding, "And this, I'm guessing, is Spy Cat. He's grown a bit since I last saw him though. Which explains the new attacks Harry tried using against the troll; as I believe you called the creature that attacked the three of you."

"Why haven't I seen them before, and why did you vanish for a minute?"

"I'd forgotten about their collars. Have you ever heard of a Notice-Me-Not Charm?" Lucy nodded. "Well their collars were charmed to hide their presence by the goblins so Harry wouldn't be in trouble for them stowing away in his trunk. That's why they've not been seen."

"Oh… oh! I bet that's how he's been disappearing in between classes! When he's holding one or both animals the charm extends over him. What a sneak!"

"That must have been a recent development because he hadn't mentioned it to me in his letters but it sounds like a plausible explanation. Can you take me to Harry's room? This young boy here has a few injuries I'm guessing he picked up during the battle and Harry has supplies which I can use to treat them."

"I can but if I get caught I'd be in trouble."

"Not an issue, I'll just put their collars back on and carry Dilemma here while you lead the way."

Ten minutes later, Ash was carefully treating Spy Cat on Harry's bed while Lucy watched from the desk. The treatment oddly (to Lucy anyway) basically involved a few bandages applied to a limb or two and an assortment of weird looking fruits which both animals gladly devoured. When he finished, he ordered both of the creatures to be careful, watch over Harry, and listen to Lucy. Ash then asked Lucy if she would take them food whenever she visited Harry in the hospital wing. When she agreed, he handed her the bag of poffins from Harry's basket and told her three or four twice a day would be more then enough. He also let her know they'd eat just about anything else she brought them too but to avoid anything with large amounts of sugar in it because they tended to get hyper when fed too much sugar.

The four of them then returned to the Hospital Ward in time for Ash to spend another hour beside his sleeping son before he was sent home for the night after getting promises from the Mediwizard in charge that he would be notified the minute Harry regained consciousness for more than a few minutes. Lucy then walked him out and promised to watch over the two fox-cats as they parted ways.

While Ash was visiting Harry and looking after the eevee and umbreon, Amelia and Rufus were interviewing the staff regarding the events of Halloween night, while the Obliviator was scanning Hermione Granger for signs of a memory modification. The Aurors on the other hand were cataloging the medical records of the students involved in the Troll Incident and scanning the bathroom for any remaining evidence. They had also gathered a copy of Miss Carmichael's memory of that night before allowing her to visit her fellow student in the hospital.

When Dumbledore was finally interviewed, he offered platitudes and a few scapegoats to take the fall for the entire fiasco in the forms of Madam Pomfrey, Rubeus Hagrid, Filius Flitwick and Minerva McGonagall. Hagrid was only charged with a minor count of keeping a parent from his child, while McGonagall and Flitwick took the blame for the fact that no notification was sent to advise Mr. Ketchum that his son had been injured, as McGonagall was the Deputy and Flitwick the Head of House for young Mr. Ketchum. The rest (and consequently most) of the blame was placed squarely on Madam Pomfrey's shoulders in regards to Harry's treatment and the failures to have the seriously injured boy transferred to the better equipped St. Mungo's.

Dumbledore expressed confidence in her credentials though, and made certain to point out that regardless of the Breach of Oath, it was Madam Pomfrey (or so he thought) that brought the boy back from the brink of death. Since the Pokémons' involvement weren't known by anyone but the three Pokémon involved, there wasn't any way to dispute Dumbledore's claims as facts. This alone reduced the seriousness of the charges that Pomfrey faced as a result.

In the end, Pomfrey's suspension was lifted under the condition that she give a witch's oath to turn Harry's medical care over to another Healer for the duration of his enrollment at Hogwarts, along with the more serious injuries that any student suffered during school term. This necessitated the need for Hogwarts' to hire a second healer to work alongside of Madam Pomfrey; which Dumbledore tried to fight. However, that was the only way for Poppy Pomfrey to keep her job, so in the end it was agreed that the Healer who'd arrived with the Mediwizards, one Augustus Pye who was currently one year away from completing his Mediwizard training (and therefore more qualified to deal with the more serious injuries), would be hired on to take over all of Harry's medical need in addition to handling any injuries or illnesses that were beyond Pomfrey's training.

Madam Pomfrey was also requested to take an Unbreakable Vow not to approach Harry under any circumstances with the intent to heal unless under the direct supervision of Healer Pye or another Senior Healer or Mediwizard. This also meant that she could no longer approach Harry with the intent of asking him to consume any type of potion as she'd been doing on a near daily basis just prior to the Halloween Attack. She eventually took the oath; out of misguided loyalty for Dumbledore and at his urging. After all, the manipulative man couldn't have just any old Healer scanning the Potter Clone whenever it ended up in the Hospital Wing, now could he?

Ash spent the next three days working mechanically on the cottage with the crews in the Highlands. His mind miles away with his son as he pounded in nail after nail as the crew put up the outer walls of the slowly growing house. The goblins worked around him, leaving him to take his pent up frustrations and anger out on the nails rather than on them. (Stories of the night he dropped the wards of their leader's office had obviously circulated amongst all of the goblins, not just the soldiers that monitored the halls of Gringotts.) The wizards and squibs of the crew tended to ignore him all together as they worked on pouring the concrete floor in the basement; the wizards using magic to shape and dry the concrete as the squibs mixed and poured it into place.

The Flamels mainly remained in the caverns, the ancient sorcerer and sorceress more fascinated with the strange Pokémon than with the raising of the house. The couple had been saddened to find that the original house, which had been located down near the loch, had burnt to the ground in a magical fire more than a century earlier. They suspected the fire was related to the murder of one of their many descendants but they had no proof.

Finally, on the afternoon of the fourth day since the investigation began, Ash received notification (in the form of a goblin messenger from Gringotts) that his son was awake and asking for him. Ash dropped what he was doing and left for Hogwarts using the goblin made portkey that the messenger had brought with him. He was met outside the school's gate by a junior Auror that was assigned to escort him up to the hospital wing. Ash was pleased to find his son sitting up in bed speaking earnestly with Miss Carmichael. He paused just a few feet away to just enjoy the site of his son awake and mostly whole once more before boldly walking forward and wrapping his son in his arms.

"Dad!" Harry cried happily with just a touch of exasperation as the older man had interrupted his conversation.

Ash just laughed and mussed his hair before taking a seat on the side of the bed, "Feeling any better, Sport?"

"Some, Healer Pye gave me some aspirin for my headaches and other pains. He also used some topical creams and potions to ease the muscle soreness. I was surprised when he didn't try to force me to take any potions but Lucy's been telling me about what happened when Madam Pomfrey tried that night." Here Harry paused and bit his lip as he glanced over at his dad with worried eyes. "Dad? I…"

"I know, Harry, trust me, I know," Ash interrupted, already knowing what Harry had been about to say. "I am not mad and I don't blame you. We both know you couldn't have walked away knowing another little girl was in danger."

"I don't know if this is all worth it anymore, dad," Harry stated softly as he glanced back down at the blanket covering him. "Spy Cat… that damn troll could have killed him. You know he evolved during that fight? He did it right after he was flung up against one of the broken sinks; he did it to save me. He could have died because I was stupid and got caught by the troll. I lost track of Dilly too… they were so brave. That thing was at least a hundred times bigger than them and they still tried to protect me."

"It's what they do, Sport, that bond you have with them is what makes a person a Trainer," Ash pointed out passionately. "We protect them and they protect us, it's our way of life. Not everyone can appreciate it as much as we do, some just see them as the means to an end. But most Trainers respect their… friends."

"Dad, the first time I woke up… I thought I saw Trickster… there were pale moon beams and stars dancing through the air but I guess it must have been a dream… I just miss them so much; Trickster especially. It's not that I care for the others less but he's my brother in a way. He's been with me for twelve years…"

"I don't think you were dreaming, son, I'm pretty sure Trickster Teleported to your side. At least I suspect he did, he'd been antsy all morning on Halloween. It wouldn't surprise me in any event, and don't forget as umbreon, Spy Cat… How did he get that name anyway? … but as I was saying, Spy Cat probably now knows Moonlight due to that evolution. He could have easily used Moonlight to help you heal though I can't recall if Pokémon healing moves are effective on humans or not.*"

Harry shrugged and glanced over at Lucy to see her both confused and curious. He mentally sighed at his (and his father's) indiscretion and realized he'd have a lot of explaining to do once he got out of the ward. Settling back against the pillows that were stacked behind him, he closed his eyes briefly while listening to Lucy asked his dad exactly what they meant by moonlight. He never heard his father's reply though, because he was already asleep.

"What are you two talking about? What do you mean by moonlight?"

"Moonlight is… a… uh…" Ash hedged sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck and gave Miss Carmichael a half grin. "You recall those attack commands I spoke of before? Well it's something along those lines, I guess in wizarding terms you could call it a healing spell of sorts."

"Am I making you uncomfortable, Mr. Ketchum? I can leave if I am."

"No, it's not you. Harry and I, we don't want to advertise what our friends can do," Ash seriously explained as he immediately dropped the bashful school boy routine he'd perfected years ago. "Our animals, they aren't your average garden variety critters and well, to be frank, those we have are the only ones there are here. Back home, they're all over the place; can't take a step outside your door without seeing a dozen or so. But here, here there are just ours."

"Oh, well I promise I won't talk about it with anyone else," Lucy quickly assured him. "I was just curious because half of what you two were talking about didn't make any sense."

"I'm sure Harry could answer any questions you have," Ash graciously offered. "Isn't that right, Sport? Sport?"

"I think he's out again," Lucy observed as she glanced over at her friend.

"That he is. Seriously though, if you wish to know more, just ask Harry. He'll tell you what he knows when he's up to it. I best be heading back home though, it was nice seeing you again, Miss Carmichael."

"Same here, Mr. Ketchum. Goodbye."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _The next chapter will have Harry back up and about again and will show the trickledown effect as to how the other students are taking the whole mess. In the mean time, enjoy the virtual brownies (they're sitting on the cyber table over there); I made them for all of my readers and reviewers. =) ~ Jenn_

**02-12-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	17. Recovery and Reunions

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 17: Recovery and Reunions<span>_

_November 11, 1991 to November 23, 1991  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

Harry spent another eight days in the Hospital Wing after regaining full consciousness, which meant he'd been there for nearly three full weeks since the troll attack. The majority of that time was spent unconscious (the first week and a half) or sleeping (the rest of the time). He was now far behind on class work but Lucy had been gathering notes and homework assignments from the other first year Ravenclaws so he could start making them up before he was officially released from the hospital. The only class that would prove difficult to catch up in would be Potions, as that class was more practical than theoretical.

When he finally did return to classes, his fellow first years seemed to pay him more attention than they had previously and not in a bad way (at least not at first). His dorm mates especially seemed curious and almost eager to hear more about the battle with the troll now that the story had been leaked to the Daily Prophet (courtesy of a loose lipped Auror). Harry didn't care for the extra attention though and took to eating breakfast and lunch either in the kitchen with the elves or up in his bedroom with his Pokémon. Professor Flitwick had questioned him about his absences during meal times but only stated that he must eat at least one meal in the Great Hall every day, hence the reason Harry wasn't taking all three meals alone.

The older students on the other hand, with the exception of a few second years that were as curious as the first years, mostly ignored Harry like usual. The ones that had previously attempted to prank him on a regular basis were now giving him a wide birth; partly due to the story circulated in the Prophet that mentioned Harry's father was pressing charges against the school because of the attack and the improper handling of Harry's medical treatment. This sent the message that any one harming Harry would not easily get away with it; after all how could a child be expected to get away with something when several adults were reprimanded or worse for making what most believed was a simple mistake or two?

Several Gryffindors might have made an issue out of McGonagall and Hagrid's rather public humiliation but the Ravenclaw prefects (led by Lucy) had handed out ultimatums at their latest meeting just prior to Harry's release from the hospital; any student caught directly or indirectly harming or even intending to harm Harry Ketchum for any reason, including a misguided sense of revenge, would be hexed and strung up by their feet off the side of the Astronomy Tower during the next rainstorm. It didn't stop the grumbling but it did keep the complaints limited to verbal insults and dirty looks rather than the ten on one ambush that would have occurred otherwise.

The exception, of course, was a handful of younger Gryffindor boys who made dire threats every time they passed Harry in the halls or saw him at meal times. Ron Weasley was the worst of the lot along with the Pretend Potter; those two pretty much led the pack of first year lions in 'Harry Hunting' in between classes along with Weasley's older brothers Fred and George. Some of the Gryffindor girls even joined them, though Granger was noticeably subdued (even during classes, the first year no longer eagerly seeking to answer every single question).

They rarely ever saw him traveling through the castle though, because he readily allowed Dilemma and Spy Cat to hide him in the hallways between classes and whenever he was studying alone in the library. That mostly left the frustrated would be bullies flinging hissed insults during the only meal that Harry attended with the rest of the students since they couldn't hex or prank him in the hall under the watchful eyes of the staff. Fred and George had tried to spike his food but the House Elves were under strict orders to prepare Harry's food separately because of his special dietary needs and so any spiked food hit the other Ravenclaws who didn't take it too kindly, instead of their intended target.

Harry was very surprised Granger hadn't approached him and demanded an apology from him for him hexing her during the troll incident. When he mentioned this to Lucy, Lucy finally told him that Granger's memory of that night had been erased from her mind. She would never remember what had happened that night, not even if someone told her word for word. Harry was shocked and appalled that someone would do that to her and even more disgusted to know that he was supposed to have been Obliviated as well upon waking. Only his father's timely intervention (with the help of the goblins and the Aurors) saved him from the same fate.

Several days after being released from the hospital, Harry was sitting in his room working hard on some of his make up work when Mule finally returned in the company of Noctowl. Harry was glad to see his ornery owl; he'd been worried about the somewhat intelligent bird ever since Lucy confessed to having used him to mail his father her note. After that conversation, Harry gave her permission to use him any time she needed, providing he wasn't already out on a delivery or just returned from one (the bird needed some rest in between trips after all). He was a bit surprised to see the Pokémon but Noctowl's presence was explained in the letter from his father.

It was in that letter that Harry learned Mule had been attacked on that previous trip and had been healing these last few weeks. Ash had then taken the bird in to the Magical Menagerie, on advice from the goblins, to have some additional protective wards placed upon the bird to prevent it from happening again. Those wards included a mild Aversion Ward which would make the owl appear unappetizing to natural predators (such as dogs, cats, and thestrals) and an Intent to Harm Ward that would prevent any witch or wizard (or other bird) that wished his owl harm from getting close enough to do so. The only thing they couldn't prevent was another bird or person from following Mule between destinations.

To test the wards effectiveness, Ash had sent Noctowl to follow and watch over Mule for the trip back to Hogwarts. The flying Pokémon would follow the smaller owl on the next few deliveries as well, to give the Pokémon a chance to learn the route between the school and home and to offer protection should the protective wards fail for any reason. Noctowl also carried a care package that contained some healthy snacks and drinks for Harry, more berries and poffins for the Pokémon, and set of new colored charcoal pencils (as a belated get well gift).

Harry thanked his father for the new pencils (which were a professional grade set) by drawing him a picture of Spy Cat sitting on the windowsill in the moonlight with Noctowl and Mule perched off to one side. Dilemma had been hiding at the time or she would have been included too. Harry managed to catch her cat-napping in the closet another time though and had sketched her while she slept; that picture Harry kept for himself and hung up on the wall above his desk along with a handful of other sketches he'd made earlier in the year.

Another change in Harry's routine was the near constant presence of Lucy during supper (the only meal he took in the Great Hall) and in the evenings until curfew. As a prefect she was allowed to be in the boys' dorms so long as she was on official school business but as a girl she wasn't really allowed to hang out in the boys' dorms. To get around that rule, Lucy had Flitwick assign her to Harry for tutoring in order to help him catch up on his assignments and answer any questions he had about the work. After the first two nights, Harry asked her why.

"I thought I got you killed that night, Harry," Lucy whispered as she bowed her head. "I felt horrible then and still feel terribly guilty some nights when I think about how badly you were hurt and how terrible things went after Madam Pomfrey gave you all those potions. I think you're a great kid, Harry. You're intelligent, mature, and brave. You're also stubborn, mysterious, independent, and self-sufficient. You're also kind of cute. I'd like to be your friend, if you'll let me."

"I don't blame you, Lucy," Harry said gently as he fought to keep from blushing over the cute comment. "Hell, I don't even blame Granger and she had more to do with both of us getting hurt than you did. After all, she froze up and then kept screaming which only angered the troll more. She was only a scared little girl though, so I can understand and forgive her for that. Just like I can forgive you for sending me in after her. We both expected to get Granger and get out before the troll could catch any of us. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way."

"I know. Your father said something very similar. But I still can't help but feel guilty sometimes."

"Did you know I feel guilty over you being injured that night too? If I had been a bit more forceful with Granger and just dragged her out of there instead of trying to be nice about it, there would have been time enough for all of us to get away scot-free."

"Truce, Harry," Lucy laughed softly, though without humor. "That's one of the things that I find fascinating about you. You're being so mature about the whole thing. By rights, as an eleven year old, you should hate both of our guts for the whole thing."

Harry's face fell at her words this time and he gazed guiltily away from her as the knowledge he was basically lying to her about himself gnawed away at his insides. "I had to grow up quickly," Harry murmured after a few minutes. "Before dad, my life was… unpleasant. I never really knew how to be a kid or how to make friends. I still don't feel comfortable around other kids, especially large crowds of them. That's one of the reasons I work up here instead of down in the common room. So, because I'm constantly avoiding the other kids, they tend to think I'm stuck up. But it's really just that I'm more than a little anti-social and people shy."

"I can't say I'm surprised. It is very noticeable at times," Lucy commented as she studied his profile. "If I'm intruding on your solitude when I join you at night for studying, I can stop. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Before the troll I would have gladly sent you packing the first night you turned up," Harry stated as he finally turned to meet her gaze once more. "I'd be a right prick if I did that now. And the truth is I miss the few friends I made back home and my grandmother. I do get lonely a bit, even if Spy Cat and Dilly take the edge off of it, they have difficulty carrying conversations though. I… there's… that is…"

"What's wrong, Harry?"

"There is more to me and my father and our animals then what you see. I know Dad has talked to you about bits of it when he introduced you to Spy Cat and Dilemma but that didn't even scratch the surface. We… no… I have secrets that I can't risk revealing. And as much as I wish to make friends and be your friend, I'm terrified that one day those secrets will hurt you or get you killed. Friendship requires a great deal of trust… at least in my opinion it does, and to go into this friendship with you, knowing that I won't be telling you everything, it bothers me a great deal because it feels like I'm cheating almost and I don't think it would be fair to you."

"Well, I did say you were mysterious," Lucy deadpanned as she absorbed everything he'd just said. "I won't say I understand completely but your explanation does explain some of your behavior since the start of term. I still think we can be friends. I don't expect you to spill your secrets right up front but there must be some things we could talk about other than theory and classes. Just let the secrets be for now and simply be yourself. I don't think there is anything wrong with a casual friendship, do you?"

"It wouldn't bother you?"

"I won't say it won't ever bother me; but right now? No, it doesn't bother me. Besides, there are some things a girl just doesn't talk about with boys. So, in a way, I'll have secrets from you as well but I doubt they'll be anything you'd be interested in."

"Ah, female issues," Harry gravely acknowledged with a little shudder. "I remember when my father had _that_ talk with me. Trust me; I won't be prying into anything that could even possibly be related to _that._"

"Coward," Lucy joked with a smirk as she tossed a pillow at Harry. "So… friends?"

"Friends," Harry agreed after a slight hesitation. "And thank you."

Lucy beamed at him and then giggled for the first time in Harry's hearing. The sound of it made him feel strange inside and he nearly blushed as he realized he was crushing on Lucy and had been for quite some time but hadn't realized it until she'd revealed that she thought he was cute. He'd never felt that way about any of the girl's he'd known back home; he'd been too busy with his Pokémon, research, and art to notice girls. That's not to say he didn't look at girls, he'd just never really spent any time with one to develop any of the more romantic feelings.

"So… Charms or Transfiguration tonight?" Lucy inquired once she settled down.

"Defense, I finished Charms during lunch and Transfiguration this afternoon because I'm grounded from Flying Class for the rest of the term."

"Fair enough, do you want to work on the essays you owe or practical?"

"Practical. I can work on the essays in the library tomorrow while practicing the spells is easier with a partner."

"Let's get started then, shall we? Using your pen, show me the wand movements for the Ticking Hex… good. Now the Full Body Bind, keep the tip a little higher and try again, much better. Tripping Jinx? No, bring your wand up to a forty-five degree angle; otherwise you'll just trip yourself. Perfect. Now try the wand movements for Tarantallegra or what I like to call the Frantic Dance Hex. Very good, let's try again with your wand now; just target your pillow for now because if you hit me you won't be able to reverse it yet."

The two of them spent the next hour practicing the spells, most of which Harry had no trouble performing, though he did tend to aim the tripping jinx too low and would end up tripping himself practically every time. Lucy also had Harry go over some of the earlier hexes and jinxes to make certain he hadn't forgotten any of them while he'd been in the hospital. He hadn't.

When their tutoring session was over, Harry shyly gave Lucy a sketch he had drawn of her sitting at his desk. He'd been working on it in the afternoons for the last couple of days (while he'd been trying to figure out why she was helping him) but hadn't been sure if she'd appreciate it or not. He knew it was good, he'd been drawing portraits for years after all, but he wasn't certain she'd be happy that he'd drawn her because when he first started the drawing he hadn't been sure what she wanted from him or why she kept showing up to help him. Now he just hoped she didn't think he was some kind of pervert because of how he'd drawn her.

"What's this?" Lucy asked as she accepted the rolled paper that Harry had tied closed with a blue ribbon.

Harry just gave his patented one shoulder shrug that he always gave when he felt awkward or uncertain and smiled as he closed the door. His knees were shaking badly with nerves so he slipped down against the door until he was sitting on the floor while listening through the door for any sounds of anger from Lucy.

* * *

><p>On the other side of the door, unseen by Harry, Lucy was staring at his door in puzzlement. Harry's behavior tonight had confused the hell out of her, especially the way he disappeared the moment he'd handed her the small scroll. If he had been older, Lucy would have thought he was crushing on her but as an eleven year old that was most likely too far fetched; or at least she thought it was (boys that young rarely ever noticed girls were even girls after all).<p>

Shrugging the oddness off as 'pure Harry', Lucy headed out the door and down the stairs to the common room before heading back up the stairs towards the girl's dorms so she could open the scroll in private. When she finally did open and unroll the scroll she was completely flabbergasted by the detailed sketch she found inside. It was beautifully drawn with charcoal and filled in with pastels.

In the portrait, she was perched with her ankles crossed on the corner of the desk in Harry's room wearing her school robes and her arms propped on either side of her legs as she leaned slightly forward. Her hair was cascading down her right shoulder and she was watching something on the floor underneath her feet and out of site in the picture. The angle of the picture was drawn from the side, so that her face was partially hidden from view and framed by her hair in the background.

The effect of the entire picture was entrancing and it looked so lifelike. Lucy actually felt herself blushing as she stared at the picture in her hand, not because it was indecent or even suggestive, but because he'd drawn her so beautifully; as a beautiful young lady. And she knew he'd drawn it because she'd seen some of the other drawings he'd hung up around his room and asked him who'd made them. That he had studied her so closely, enough to draw the image from memory or while she was in fact sitting there, was startling and oddly touching.

She could see why he'd been a bit embarrassed when he'd given it to her and that made her smile at his obvious shyness. _If only he was just a few years older_, Lucy thought to herself. When she realized what she'd just thought, Lucy's flush deepened and she grew a little flustered. Sure, she'd dated a few times last year but never really fancied any of the boys she knew; so it was bit of a surprise that a first year was catching her attention that way. She figured it had a lot to do with the fact that he was so mature and mysterious. It didn't hurt that she could hold an intelligent conversation with him about almost any subject.

Sighing, Lucy carefully rolled the picture back up and tied the ribbon around it again before tucking it into her desk drawer so it wouldn't be seen by prying eyes or get ruined by mistake. She'd have to think of a thank you gift she could give him in return.

* * *

><p><em>November 23, 1991 to December 20, 1991<br>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
>Scotland<em>

The rest of the term sped by quickly and before the students knew it, they were taking the mid-term exams and boarding the Hogwarts Express for the Holidays. Harry and Lucy, by unspoken agreement, exchanged gifts on the train ride into London. Harry had painted her an acrylic portrait that had taken him several weeks to complete based off of a sketch he'd made one night when she was sitting on his window sill with Spy Cat standing with his front paws on her lap where Dilly had been curled up sleeping.

She'd been wearing a pale blue button down sweater over her robes at the time that contrasted wonderfully with Spy Cat's mostly black fur. For the gold rings on the umbreon's ears and tail and the circles on his visible hip, shoulder, and forehead, he'd used a gold paint that was actually made from finely ground gold dust. The overall effect was eye catching as the paint glittered when the light hit it, making Spy Cat look alive. He was curious about what Lucy might have gotten him in return. He'd made sure to give her the no sugar speech long before the start of the holidays; an explanation that was long overdue and one he'd originally intended to give her on Halloween night during the feast.

Once they arrived in London, they parted ways with holiday good wishes and promises to write. Harry then searched for his father while Lucy headed to the central Floo Connection that was located on the far side of the platform to allow witches and wizards an option to avoid the muggle side of the station if they so wished.

Harry found Ash waiting near the portal leading out into Kings Cross Station and was pleasantly surprised to find Trickster sitting beside his father (the ninetales now wearing a charmed collar similar to the ones Spy Cat and Dilemma wore). Grinning madly, Harry darted through the crowds and soon felt his father sweep him up in his arms. Once he'd greeted his father, Harry dropped down to his knees and wrapped Trickster in an equally enthusiastic hug and received a lavish tongue lashing in return as the fire Pokémon knocked him over and drenched his face with wolfish kisses. Harry laughed and ran his fingers through Trickster's fur while burying his face in the ninetales's thick mane.

Together, the three of them (plus the two hidden Pokémon in Harry's satchel) gathered around the portkey and jumped to the London House where they'd spend the night before heading back to the Highlands so Harry could see the rest of his Pokémon. Harry was glad to be away from the castle, even if it was only for a few short weeks.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Finally managed to get this chapter cleaned up for everyone. I'd been having a bit of trouble with Hermione as she'd originally wanted to revert back to her snobbish behavior of earlier chapters and I thought it inappropriate because even though she doesn't remember what happened enough people will have asked her about it that it would make her insecure. Not to mention the idea that someone __**stole**__ knowledge from her mind would have troubled her because Hermione is very proud of her intelligence. _

_The rest of the story will be moving fairly quickly once we get passed the holiday arc so be prepared to hold onto your seats. ~ Jenn (Sets out a few extra plates of cyber cookies as a treat for all readers for being patient)_

**02-12-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	18. Holiday Guests & Unsettling Revelations

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 18: Holiday Guests and Unsettling Revelations<span>_

_Friday Evening, December 20, 1991  
>Ketchum Residence, Greater London<br>England_

"Why aren't we going directly to the highlands?" Harry asked as they walked from the garage (where the portkey had dropped them off) into the house. "I was hoping to spend a little time with the Pokémon tonight. I've missed them almost as much as I'm sure they missed me."

"Because we have a few things to discuss before hand," Ash replied as he started fixing supper. "And I didn't want to toss you to the mightyena without preparing you."

"Okay, if that wasn't ominous then I'm an ursaring snack," Harry quipped with forced humor to hide his sudden nervousness.

"Here, help me shell these peas while we talk," Ash ordered to give Harry something to occupy his hands with to burn off a bit of nervous energy. Once Harry began the familiar and frequent chore, Ash began. "On Halloween, shortly after all of your Pokémon grew frantic, Trickster Teleported (and we can discuss that later). I grew concerned because the only time your Pokémon act up like that, you've been in trouble; so I rushed off to Gringotts (with Dancer hitching a ride with me) looking for help because I had no idea how to reach Hogwarts. I was accosted by another customer but was whisked away by portkey by a goblin before I could answer any of the questions the man had fired at me. You already know what occurred when I tried to gain entrance to the school, so I won't go into that, but once I was back at the bank I was fit to be tied I was so angry."

"I jumped back to the Highlands, grabbed Charizard and Pikachu before returning to the bank with those two, Dancer, and Trickster who'd been with me since I'd left the school. We then fought our way through several dozen guards to Ragnok's office and apparently tore down some mighty impressive wards in the process. Turns out, Ragnok was having a conference with the man that had waylaid me earlier and I interrupted their meeting."

"Alright, that sounds like an adventure but what does that have to do with us not getting back up to Scotland tonight?"

"I was getting to that," Ash exasperatingly pointed out over the interruption. "As I was saying, I burst in on their meeting and Ragnok tried calming me down but the moment he announced my name, the other man (and his wife who was there too) went all funny like. Anyway, I was angry and demanding answers and when I didn't get immediate results I did something stupid. Please don't ask, it was humiliating enough when it happened, anyway that's when the Flamels (the man and his wife) joined the conversation and began asking quite a few questions; mainly about you."

"Why? And isn't the name Flamel one of the names mentioned in regards to one of the vaults the goblins said I had access to?"

"Yes it is and I'm ashamed to admit I completely overlooked that fact at the time otherwise I might not have immediately accused them of being part of the scam regarding your Identity Thief or jumped to the false conclusion that they were the Dursleys. And the reason why they were asking me questions about you was because it turns out that they are actually your grandparents on your father's side."

Ash fell silent at this point and paused what he was doing so he could watch Harry's reaction. He knew family, especially family from _this _world, was a touchy subject for the teen. Ash anticipated two possible reactions from Harry at this point; one, he'd verbally explode and start cursing his former guardians and the newly revealed grandparents every which way but sideways or two, he'd withdraw completely and close himself up in his room and not speak to anyone for the rest of the holiday (barring his Pokémon whom he'd most likely vanish into the wilds with if Ash even managed to get him up to the Highlands in the first place).

Ash feared the latter possibility was more likely to occur but preferred the former option as once Harry finished his rant he'd be willing to listen to reason. If he withdrew, it could easily be months before he was willing to listen to any explanations. Tense and unsure, Ash continued to wait, slowly returning to his own task as he kept a watch on Harry out of the corner of his eye. He could see the stiffness in Harry's shoulders and noted that his son's hands had slowed to a stop before they fell limply to Harry's side as the teen stared unseeingly into the bowl of half shelled peas.

Ash swallowed thickly as he saw Harry start to tremble, knowing that the boy was fighting his emotions. He was half tempted to wrap Harry in his arms but knew that would only make matters worse during his current mental and emotional state. Sometimes, Ash desperately wished Harry's emotional state wasn't so fragile. It was better than it had been in the beginning but his son was still greatly affected by those early years when he was at the mercy of those horrible Dursleys; who it turned out weren't even actually related to him (something he had yet to inform Harry about).

Eight minutes after dropping the proverbial bombshell on his son, Ash watched sadly as Harry's face turned stony and he stalked out of the room without saying a word. Ash sighed and dropped his chin down as he braced himself against the counter and ached for his son. At least the Flamels weren't here; otherwise it could have been far worse. Still, it was going to be a long night.

An hour later, with dinner freshly off the stove and on the table, Ash went hunting for Harry to see if he could be coaxed down to eat. He expected to find him in his room but when it appeared he hadn't even unpacked his bag Ash knew he was taking it harder than he'd thought he was. Sighing, Ash closed the door and headed back down to eat dinner alone. When Harry truly wanted to be alone, he well and truly disappeared to the point where he was near impossible to track him down, unless one of his Pokémon was conveniently at hand to track him. And right now, the only three Pokémon in residence were unsurprisingly making themselves scarce (most likely because they'd gone with Harry).

After he ate, Ash packed up the leftovers and placed them in the fridge before making a cursory search of the house from bottom to top in hopes of running across his son along the way. When he didn't, Ash wrote him a short note and taped it to Harry's bedroom door before getting ready for bed. Ash tossed and turned all night, wondering if he could have broken the news to Harry in a gentler way.

In the morning, Ash surprisingly found Harry (looking worse for wear with bloodshot eyes and dark smudges under them) sitting at the kitchen table looking like a lost Pokémon. Ash slowly approached him, making certain Harry saw him coming, and placed his hands on Harry's shoulders to offer his son a modicum of comfort. He felt Harry tense under him for a brief moment before he relaxed and Ash let out the breath he'd been unintentionally holding.

"Why?" Harry croaked out hoarsely. "Why now? Why not…?"

"Why not when you needed them the most?" Ash gently finished as he gave Harry's shoulders a squeeze. "I asked them that same question when they first told me they suspected you were their grandson. If this involved anything but your biological family, I'd tell you that you'd need to work it out yourself; but I fear that is only going to complicate matters right now. Are you hungry? Would you like me to make you breakfast while I explain?"

"I can't eat right now, I'm so… so confused and angry… and most of all hurt," Harry objected in a bare whisper, his voice breaking under the emotional strain. "Did… did they not want me either? Did they not care at all? Is there something so wrong with me that my own family didn't want anything to do with me?"

"No, Harry, there is nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all!" Ash fervently denied as he knelt down and turned Harry around in the chair so he could look him in the face. "You are a wonderful young man and I am proud to call you my son. I wouldn't want anyone else if it meant I couldn't have you in my life. Don't ever doubt your worth, Harry. As for the Flamels? Well, there's a lot more to the story than I even know. I do know they have been looking for you since the night your parents were murdered. They told me some of what they have been going through and I believe them. There are mitigating circumstances though, that they will have to explain to you because I don't understand the magic behind the issues involved. Their relationship to you is a little farther removed than I originally stated too but I was trying to simplify it last night and maybe I shouldn't have."

"What do you mean?"

"They aren't your father's mother and father; they aren't even your grandfather's mother and father. Apparently there is a gap somewhere between five and eight generations separating them and you. According to their records, which I have seen by the way, they are well over six hundred years of age and have been living in France for centuries. When your immediate grandfather was murdered (apparently it's a tragically common occurrence amongst your relatives) Nicholas and Perenelle tried to gain custody of your father but were thwarted at every turn. Then when you were orphaned at such a young age they tried even harder but at this point there was some spell involved that prevented them from knowing who you were and where you were. All they knew was that your last name was Potter and England has thousands upon thousands of Potter families spread out all over the place and none of them related to the Flamels."

"Then, when we returned to this world and you accessed your inheritances through the aging differences between home and here, it broke through some of the enchantments placed upon you, or your parents or something, and gave them their first concrete clue as to your identity. They also knew you were at least old enough to attend Hogwarts because the person hiding you from them was attempting to blackmail them in exchange for your 'continued' safety. I have seen those letters as well."

"It all seems too fantastic to be believed," Harry rasped as he finally looked away from his father. "When I was little, before I accidentally opened the door to your world… to home, all I ever wished for was someone to take me away from the Dursleys and love me. I'd all but given up by the time I found my way out and only wished to escape from what I thought was my fate. You know what happened next and I don't regret my life with you. There were difficult spots but you were always there with me to help me get through them. And that has meant the world to me. I won't give that up for anything. Not even for a long lost family returned. They… they don't want to take me away from you, do they?" This last was asked with the terrified tone of a lost little boy. A voice that made Ash's heart ache as he took in the naked fear etched on Harry's face.

"No, they aren't. And I would fight them every step of the way if they even tried. Not that they would have been successful anyway because of your age," Ash vehemently asserted as he drew Harry into his arms and hugged him for all he was worth. "If they intended you harm or tried to spirit you away, there's nothing that would stop me from razing this world to the ground in my efforts to find you or make them pay for any pain they inflicted upon you. You mean that much to me, Harry."

"I love you too, dad," Harry whispered tightly as he hugged his father back for the first time since he'd learned of the Flamels. "They're staying at our place up in the Highlands, aren't they? That's why we're here?"

"Yes, I would have never sprung them on you without giving you fair warning, which would have been completely unacceptable, to you and to me. Whether we spend the entire holiday down here or head up there so you can meet them and ask them any questions you need to…? That is entirely up to you. I'm not going to make you go if you are not ready. They may not like that choice but it is your choice to make."

"Thanks, dad," Harry murmured with feeling as he leaned into his father for comfort and emotional stability.

"That's what I'm here for," Ash responded warmly.

The rest of that day was spent puttering around the London Town House, Harry arranging the new furniture in his room more to his liking while Ash worked down in the basement marking out the ground where a small pool would be magically installed so the water Pokémon would have a place to swim whenever they were in London (there not enough room out in the yard for a proper pond). That night, during supper, Harry voiced his desire to visit the rest of his Pokémon and at least meet the Flamels. Whether he stuck around to get to know them though would remain to be seen. Ash simply nodded his agreement, doing his best to not voice his own opinion over the matter so that Harry would not feel pressured into doing something he wasn't ready to do.

By eight thirty that night, Harry had gathered up the few items he'd taken out of his book bag (which he was using as a day pack for the holidays; he'd even stuffed his small trunk inside the bag with all of his belongings from the school because he hadn't felt comfortable leaving anything behind). The portkey trip that took them from London to the Highlands was far too short in Harry's mind and the landing horrible because he wasn't paying as close attention as he should have as his mind was too caught up between the need to visit his friends and the looming presence of the Flamels.

Harry barely registered the fact that he'd ended up on his behind from the botched landing before he was tackled by five squirming bodies, one exceptionally warm, one near freezing, one that felt smooth and soft, another tingling with static electricity and one slightly damp. The eevee evolutions (whom tended to think of Harry as their surrogate mother) had obviously missed Harry just as much as he missed them. The next ones to squeeze their way into the fox-cat pile were Splash, who circled Harry's body in a full body wrap hug and Dave, the delibird thief, who immediately began searching Harry's pockets for something edible.

Trapinch dug up from underneath him, dropping him down several inches while Dancer simply nibbled on his hair from where the messy ends stuck up above the mass of wriggling bodies. Trickster stood off to one side watching with an aloof expression, as if tackling was beneath him (not that he's minded such puppyish behavior when he'd greeted Harry the day before). Dilemma and Spy Cat soon slunk out of their transportation and the other eevee evolutions soon darted after their missing brother and sister in their own personal family reunion giving Harry a chance to pet the less exuberant Pokémon that stayed. For the first time since Ash broke the news to Harry about his grandparents, the boy laughed freely as he reacquainted himself with his closest and dearest friends.

From the caverns, where they'd been given a side cave for privacy, Nicholas and Perenelle approached the group with obvious curiosity and yearning. They'd been warned, by Ash, that Harry might adamantly refuse to have anything to do with them so soon but it seemed at least _some_ of the younger man's fears were baseless. That they had arrived hours later than previously expected hinted that Harry was far from welcoming them into his life with open arms though. So, as they stood off to one side watching the happy reunion, the two elderly magicals couldn't help but feel trepidation, jealousy, sadness, and longing. That was their long lost grandson and he was far more interested in greeting his 'pets' than he was in meeting his grandparents.

Harry was just getting ready to stand up, after extracting himself from dratini's coils, when a small bundle landed on top of his head and Harry glanced up to see the smiling face of Pikachu hovering over top of him. Harry laughed and reached up to pull him down so he could cuddle the electric Pokémon in his arms while teasingly crying, "Why you sneaky little shock mouse you! Did you think you could sneak up on me you adorable yellow rat?"

Surprisingly, Pikachu just chattered happily at Harry instead of shocking him for the implied insult; of course, the two of them had had twelve years to come to an agreement. Harry agreed not to scream at the small yellow Pokémon on sight or hurl real insults at him and pikachu actively avoided shocking Harry. It was a system that worked well for the two of them. Ash's other Pokémon came closer for a few pats but for the most part just watched from the sidelines as Harry hadn't really spent all that much time with any of them except maybe Charizard who would take Harry for a short flight later that night (his attention had been far more occupied by his own Pokémon companions through the years).

When Harry did finally make it up onto his feet, Pikachu was once more perched on his head, Dave was sitting on his shoulder, and the unnamed trapinch was nestled in his arms purring contentedly. There was a huge grin on Harry's face, seeing his Pokémon after nearly four months definitely agreed with him, right up until Harry caught site of the Flamels watching him like hungry vultures off to one side. Harry stiffened as his smile slid off his face and he studied the two (supposedly) ancient couple for several minutes before he abruptly turned around and strode off without saying a word.

Ash sighed and sadly watched him go while the Flamels were absolutely devastated. "I'm sorry, Nicholas, Perenelle; he took the news harder than I thought he would and only his desire to spend time with his Pokémon gave him reason to come here at all. Just, give him a couple of days to get used to your presence. Eventually, he will come around. All I ask is that you let him come to you, because if you seek him out before he is ready to face his own past it will only drive him further away. He's stubborn and mule headed. He might try to approach you individually as well but I couldn't say which one of you he'd attempt to speak with first. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say Perenelle though, due to the higher number of unpleasant encounters he's had with adult males during his lifetime."

"We understand," Perenelle acknowledged wearily, the hurt in her voice clearly evident even if there was no trace of it on her face. "You did warn us he might be hesitant to face us."

"I wish I had been wrong," Ash countered before he too walked away, heading in the opposite direction as Harry.

Once they were alone, the two Flamels leaned together for moral support before Perenelle transformed into her falcon animagus form and took to the skies so she could at least watch over her grandson from a distance. Nicholas was tempted to follow her on foot in his fox form but decided he needed to find out exactly what Harry's reaction to their presence was and for that he would need to obtain permission from Ash to view the memory of that conversation.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>_Not quite the meeting I'm sure some of you were hoping for between Harry and the Flamels... but I think it is a realistic meeting between them based upon Harry's past. Don't worry he won't permanently avoid them; he just needs a little time to get used to the idea of having relatives that don't hate him. Not that he is yet aware that the Dursleys weren't his actual relatives yet (and yes he will eventually learn that on his own). _

_The next chapter covers half of the holiday and is mostly a filler chapter and chapter 20 will wrap up the holidays and see Harry back at Hogwarts with the rest of the year moving exceedingly fast as there are only about 4 or 5 more chapters left of this part. _

_Oh... and a couple of reviewers found a loose plot thread that slipped out of the weave regarding the obliviation of Hermione and all of that... and instead of going back and making changes in past chapters (which is a nightmare and a half) I'm going to turn the entire scene into an omake/missing moment of sorts that will be from Hermione's PoV and will be posted after the last chapter of this story and it will include the reasons why it was brushed under the rug (so to speak) once I work out the kinks in the plot thread. I have to find my pika-bunny (a special breed of plot bunnies that specialize in HP x Pokémon crossovers) and bribe him for ideas with a few carrots, PokéBlocks, and Poffins first though. lol ~ Jenn_

**02-12-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	19. The Complicated Steps of a Dancer

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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><p><em><span>Chapter 19: The Complicated Steps of a Dancer<span>_

_December 21, 1991 to December 24, 1991  
>Potter Property, Northern Highlands<br>Scotland_

The days leading up to Christmas Eve dragged by with agonizing slowness as the tensions between Harry and the Flamels grew with each passing day. The Flamels were intent on at least getting Harry to speak with one of them while Harry was just as determined to avoid them both. Only Ash's warning prevented the Flamels from accosting the boy with a sticking charm or petrification hex to force the confrontation. Ash avoided picking sides in the on-going battle of wills, spending equal time with both Harry and the Flamels to show that he wasn't going to force the issue either way.

This annoyed the Flamels to a point because they thought Ash was allowing Harry to get away with impertinence, until Ash pointed out that technically Harry was an adult and fully able to take care of himself and make his own decisions; even if he didn't look more than twelve or thirteen years old. Thoroughly chastised, the Flamels realized they were only looking at one side of the picture and reluctantly backed off even further.

Once they did that, Ash finally consented to allow them to view the memory of the conversation he had with Harry regarding the newly revealed connection between their families. Both of the older adults came out of the memory feeling haunted by the stark and grim reality of how troubled Harry was over the revelation of their sudden appearance in his life. It brought home all of the warnings Ash had been giving them since that first meeting in Ragnok's office on Halloween Night.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Harry stayed around long enough to have breakfast with Ash and by extension the Flamels. There was no conversation, stilted or otherwise, but there were many curious looks traded back and forth between the Flamels and Harry whenever the other party wasn't looking. After the meal had been consumed, Harry rose as if to leave only to pause with his head half way facing the Flamels as he softly stated, "I don't like being followed and spied on; especially when you don't even have the guts to do it as yourself. I know dad showed you his memory; if you truly wish to get to know me, maybe you should start by answering my questions."

"How? When you do not stay long enough to hear anything we might have to say?" Nicholas asked a touch incredulously and with more than a little pained exasperation.

Harry looked back over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow in silent rebuke as he dryly (and more than a little sarcastically) answered, "I'm sure you are fully capable of using a pen and paper, no?" And with that parting shot he stepped outside the cave, mounted Dancer's back, and rode off towards the lower levels to continue exploring and mapping out the property.

"He has a point you know," Ash couldn't resist adding as he got up and dug out a pad of lined paper and a ball point pen. "I'm sure either Noctowl or Mule would gladly deliver the letter when you finish it. Unless you wish to leave it on the table for him to find?" Nicholas gave Ash a dirty look for the unsolicited comments but Ash simply countered the looks with a crisp; "He's opened the lines of communication and all but promised to listen to what you have to say, which is an improvement, of sorts."

Ash then left the older couple to their own devices as he headed out to spend a bit of time working on the cottage, which was about halfway finished, before the crews left for the day.

Nicholas and Perenelle gazed at each other and held a silent conversation before Nicholas sighed and left Perenelle to write their grandson a letter in order to try and explain the last twenty or so years to him. While his wife handled the difficult task, Nicholas wandered outside until he came to the river where he sat down to contemplate the frustrating and sad truth of his nonexistent relationship with his only grandson and heir. He also wondered if the materialistic present he and his wife had purchased for the boy (they'd bought him a rather fancy pensive to view his memories and a collection of memory jars in which to hold those memories he wished to protect and preserve) would be well received by the man-child.

Nicholas then turned his thoughts to Harry's animals, or if Ash was to be believed, familiars and suddenly a gem of an idea crystallized in the back of his mind. Nicholas had heard Ash speaking of how close the boy bonded with the strange creatures and what better way to prove to the boy that he cared for him and accepted him as he was than to provide him with a link that would allow him to have contact to his animal friends even when they were far apart.

Filled with new purpose, Nicholas returned to the cavern he and his wife shared and grabbed a few scraps of kindling that he transfigured into the tools he'd need for what he had in mind, before he conjured a floating light globe and disappeared into the deeper caves in search of a few minerals, gems, or malleable metals he could use to create his project.

Three hours later, he stumbled back into the snug cave where he and his wife slept and poured out twelve huge chunks of copper riddled with bits of azurite and malachite, several even larger chunks of low quality smoky quarts, and over two dozen small chunks of iron the size of his thumb nail onto the table Ash had given them to use as a desk. He then gathered up seven oak logs and split each one into twelve equal parts that he piled next to the materials he gathered.

His next step was to dig out his own pensive (which he'd used to view Ash's memory the other day) and pull out each and every memory he had of the various creatures Harry called his own. When he finished, he realized he was two short; not having any real clear memories of the two that had been with Harry at the school. He figured he could worry about those two later though as he had ten of the animals to start with.

The first thing he did was to break each chunk of smoky quartz in half until he had an even dozen pieces, one chunk for each of the figures he intended to enchant for each of Harry's familiars; these would form the 'heart' of the models he planned to make. He then began applying a specific series of spell to each heart, layering them one after another as soon as the previous spell was in place. Because each section of quartz was riddled with impurities, the spells Nicholas wove into each heart clung tighter to the mineral than it would to a high quality specimen with no impurities. It was a mistake many novice enchanters made when they first started learning the complicated process; sometimes, the best wasn't the most ideal material to work with.

Once he had the twelve rough hearts prepared, the ancient sorcerer used his wand to roughly shape each section of quartz into a cylinder. Next he bored a hole approximately one quarter inch in diameter through the center of each heart along the entire length of the cylinders. Using the bits of iron he'd obtained, Nicholas then plugged one side of each hole and sealed that end shut with a high intensity fire charm designed for use in metallurgy, metal working, and jewelry making. As those cooled, Nicholas dug out a medium sized cauldron from his things and melted down all twelve pieces of copper so he could extract the azurite, malachite, and other impurities that riddled the metal– these he siphoned off the top of the liquid metal and set aside to cool for use during later steps.

Nicholas was just about to start the next step when he realized he was missing a number of the ingredients he'd need for the 'heart' of the models, gems for the eyes, and fabrics to make the 'skin and fur' of the creatures. He hesitated for just a few minutes before he placed a Notice-Me-Not charm over the entire table and headed out of the caves in order to track down Harry's adoptive father. When he finally found him inside of the growing cottage, the younger man busy spreading putty over the taped seams of the drywall sheets that had been hung on the inner walls just a few days earlier, Nicholas spent a good twenty minutes trying to enlist Ash's help in obtaining a portion of the ingredients that he needed. In the end, Ash reluctantly agreed to help after he was given a brief description of what Nicholas was intending to do with the items he was asking Ash to collect.

Nicholas next asked one of the goblins working on the house to purchase the rest of the required ingredients from Diagon Alley for him. These included; one silver cauldron (size three), twelve blooms from a bleeding heart plant, eighty four beads one millimeter in diameter – made from the bronze claws or tail spikes of a Hungarian Horntail, six yards of woven acromantula silk, three pounds of raw demiguise fur, five and one quarter pounds of crushed moonstone, and twelve ounces each of althea, buchu, cloth of gold (golden yarrow), dittany (of Crete), knotweed, mugwort, sorrel wood (powdered pulp), dried sweetgrass, Adams's needle, cactus roots, camellia petals, pink gillyflower, marjoram, rosemary, stock pollen, and zinnia. The goblin was much easier to persuade as Nicholas only had to promise him five ten ounce bars of eighteen caret gold (of which he had plenty tucked away in a vault in Gringotts).

The goblin returned first, carrying a bulging sack that emitted an oddly pleasing combination of scents each time it was bumped. Nicholas thanked the efficient creature and handed him a signed slip of paper that would allow the goblin to withdraw the promised gold directly from his vault. On the way back to the caves, Nicholas ran into Ash who was carrying twenty-six tiny vials (which Nicholas had provided) that he reluctantly passed over to the old sorcerer. Ash then followed Nicholas into the caves and retrieved the hidden box of gemstone squares that he carried into the cavern where Nicholas and his wife were staying.

Ever curious about what performing magic entailed, Ash pulled up a chair and watched as Nicholas dropped the Notice-Me-Not Charm he'd placed on the table, pulled out the various items he'd had the goblin purchase, and added them to the items already on the table. Nicholas, ever the scholar and teacher, willingly explained the significance of each ingredient as it was added into the silver cauldron that Nicholas had set up over a small flame. When he finished adding items into the concoction in the pot, all that remained were the bronze claw beads, bleeding heart flowers, demiguise fur, spider silk, and moonstone. The wizard then stirred the brewing potion seven times with the tip of his wand clockwise before giving it another seven turns counterclockwise.

The potion was then set aside to cool while Nicholas separated the bronze beads evenly into twelve empty vials that were sitting near the cauldron of finished potion. Next, he placed exactly seven ounces of crushed moonstones in each vial before ladling in an ounce of the potion he'd just mixed. He then capped each vial with a bit of cork before shaking them vigorously one at a time which caused both the moonstone and the dragon claws to dissolve. When he finished, he had twelve vials of bluish red liquid that shimmered in the light globes that stilled danced about above the table. Nicolas then grabbed a piece of parchment, an unused quill, and a half bottle of black ink out of his trunk. To the ink, he added two ounces of the potion from the silver cauldron and stirred thoroughly with his wand tip before dipping the end of the quill into the sluggish liquid. He then held the tip of the quill over the parchment and looked over at Ash before asking the younger man to give him the names of each of Harry's bonded familiars.

"There is Trickster, Dancer, Splash, Dave, Spark, Spy Cat, Dilemma, Riptide, Moe – which is short for Mohawk, Frost, and Jester. The final one hasn't yet been given a name; Harry usually names them when they evolve or do something to earn it."

"Hmm, can you tell me what that creature is exactly and how you would define him otherwise?"

"He's an ant-pit Pokémon, which is a ground type and his species is collectively called 'trapinch'," Ash explained after thinking about it for a minute.

"Thank you," Nicholas absently replied as he set the quill aside and began tearing the parchment into thin stripes each containing one name except the final stripe that only described the last creature. These were then placed below each of the twelve vials containing the bluish red liquid. "Please arrange the vials of blood and hair that you collected to their corresponding name here, except for the ones containing Harry's; those will have to be dealt with separately."

Ash did as instructed and watched as twelve strands of Harry's hair and twelve drops of his blood were added to the cauldron which immediately began releasing a stream of turquoise steam in a series of tiny bubbles. Into this mixture, Nicholas added the twelve bleeding heart flowers and the azurite he'd separated out of the copper nuggets he'd mined out of the caves earlier. While the heart shaped flowers were soaking, Nicholas then turned to the twelve vials representing each of the twelve Pokémon (that he knew about) and started adding the seven strands of hair, fur, or scales and seven drops of blood from each of the Pokémon to the corresponding vial one at a time. As the items were added, the potion in each vial shimmered and changed color to match the dominant color of the corresponding Pokémon.

Once all twelve were done; Nicolas picked up the first one, which happened to be Spy Cat's, and asked Ash which memory floating above the pensive matched the animal in question. For this one, there wasn't a memory so Nicholas quickly copied a detailed memory of the Pokémon from Ash's mind (along with a memory of the other final Pokémon) and added it to the pensive before enlarging the memory so he could see it clearly. Nicholas then added the parchment stripe with the animal's name written on it into the potion in the vial, shook the vial seven times, poured all but one drop of the mixture out into one of the holes bored into the smoky crystal 'hearts', and capped the opening with another piece of the iron.

The heart was then placed inside the cauldron of liquid copper for seven full minutes. Once the time was up, Nicholas used his wand to levitate the heart and one twelfth of the copper out of the larger cauldron and transfigure it into a passable model of a twelve inch high umbreon. Ash was impressed in spite of his lingering uncertainty over Nicholas's project. This copper statue was then set off to one side (along with the remaining drop of potion in the vial) to cool and harden while Nicholas performed the same steps with each of the remaining vials and crystal hearts. Soon there were twelve miniature copper colored Pokémon lined up across the worktable; all of them shimmering and glittering in the soft light.

While Nicholas separated the remaining materials into twelve equal parts, he asked Ash to pick out two stones that he thought matched the eye color of each Pokémon. He stressed that the colors should match them as closely as possible, even if one Pokémon's eyes were best represented by two different colored stones. Ash thought he understood and willingly dug into the case that held his and Harry's gift of precious and semi-precious stones from Hypno (there were more than enough gem tones to spare and he wasn't hung up enough on money to begrudge the older man the use of the stones he hadn't sold to the goblins).

He chose two pieces of same type of stone for all of the Pokémon except one; onyx for trapinch, topaz for Dilemma, blue sapphire for Riptide, obsidian for Jester, aquamarine for Frost, red-orange jasper for Spy Cat, dark amber for Moe, dark amethyst for Spark, brown citrine for Dancer, purple tanzanite for Splash, and white opals for Dave. That just left Trickster, whose eyes were far too alive to capture with just a single stone. Ash finally settled on a rare piece of fire opal and a deep blue sapphire.

Ash then watched Nicholas shape the gems into eyes and magically shrink them down to size so that they fit perfectly into the eye sockets of each copper statue. When he got to Trickster's gems, the wizard performed some sort of spell that combined the two stones into one that was a tumbled mixture of the two very different gems. This new stone was then broken into two pieces, shaped, shrunk, and tucked into place on the statue of the ninetales.

"Almost finished with the creation of the models, then just a few spells to make them perform as desired and the bonding of each figure to its counterpart," Nicholas murmured as he sat back and studied his work. A quick glance at his watch showed it to be well after supper time and the older wizard quickly cleaned up the materials he would no longer need (basically the scraps) before hiding his work from prying eyes so the two men could take a short break to eat.

Out in the main cavern, Perenelle was still writing down the answers to the questions Harry had asked his father the first night of the holidays. She had obviously taken a break at sometime though because there was an empty plate parked near her elbow. Ash rightly guessed that Harry had fixed everyone supper when he hadn't appeared earlier and found two covered plates of leftovers sitting on the picnic table in the kitchen area which confirmed his deduction.

After eating, Ash wandered outside and found Harry perched up on the ledge over the cave's entrance lost in his art; the teen having set up his easel on the ledge. Snuggled up beside and behind the boy were all of the eevee evolutions, Dave, and Trickster while the rest of the Pokémon were sprawled off to the left of the cave mouth. Ash smiled fondly up at his son and quietly retreated back into the cave so as to not disturb the boy to the point where he lost his balance and fell.

Back inside, Ash headed over to his and Harry's shared sleeping area and began digging out the various presents he'd purchased for Harry through the weeks prior to the school holidays. Individually, not a single gift he'd picked up cost him more than five dollars, but collectively the entire group cost him a couple hundred dollars. Some of the items were art supplies (to replace what Harry had used over the course of his first term), some were school supplies that Ash knew Harry was running low on, there were also a few non-sugary snacks that he could take back to school with him, as well as a few posters and other random items Harry had been wanting so he could decorate both of his rooms in both of their houses. Ash had purchased a few interesting used books in Diagon Alley too but he just planned to give those to Harry before he returned to Hogwarts.

Ash laid the presents out under the fir tree one of the goblins had considerately cut down (because it was in the way of the construction) before returning to gather the wrapped photo albums he had put together for the Flamels. He'd taken some pictures from each of the twelve years that Harry had lived with him and gotten them duplicated at one of the shops in Aberdeen Market so he could give the copies to the older couple. He thought the gesture would be appreciated and he really had no other idea what the long lived and apparently wealthy couple would like. There were three albums in total and well over a hundred pictures in each album.

For the Pokémon, both his and Harry's, Ash had purchased an assortment of fancy ceramic food dishes and water bowls that he had personalized with each animal's name and species (the trapinch's left with enough room for his name to be added later) on opposite sides of the dish. On Harry's behalf, due to Harry being stuck at school for most of the month, Ash had purchased several special treats tailored to each Pokémon's personal tastes.

These included things like dried fish and seasoned/roasted ham bones (for those Pokémon that preferred meat such as Charizard, Trickster, and most of the eevee evolutions), an assortment of dried fruits and nuts, yogurt drops, crystallized honey combs, and several pounds of granola. He also, on a whim, picked up three pounds of dried insects mixed with crushed sunflower seeds and soy nuts and coated with pale molasses, and poured into thin bars for the two bird Pokémon and Venusaur who all enjoyed bugs as a part of their diet. He was sure Mule would enjoy those as well; if not there were always the standard owl treats that he'd picked up in Diagon Alley earlier in the month.

While Ash was organizing his gifts, Nicholas had returned to his room to finish up the details on each of the Pokémon models. He first laid aside the pieces of oak he'd split earlier so they wouldn't be in the way before separating the silvery colored demiguise fur into twelve equal piles (the capacity of the fur to render objects invisible was only effective when the strands were woven into a garment whereas in their raw state they tended to act more like the skin of a chameleon taking on the color of whatever object they were attached too) which promptly faded to match the color of the table beneath. He then ignored those piles of fur and the wood as he wrapped each copper statue in a section of spider silk cut from the large bolt the goblin had purchased for him. He took the time to make certain each section of silk was snugly molded into place with a few well placed spells before moving onto the next model.

Next, Nicholas spelled the silk of each statue to match the color and pattern of the individual animals according to the memories. On top of the colored silk, he then attached the demiguise fur – manipulating the fur so that it matched the length of the fur on each animal except for those creatures that had scales; such as the trapinch, the vaporeon, and the dratini. It only took a moment to transform those animals' demiguise fur into appropriate sized and shaped scales that retained the property of the fur since he was only changing their shape not their basic chemical structure.

As the fur and scales were attached to the statues, the statues took on a more life like appearance since the fur blended into the color of the silk to which it was attached regardless of length or shape. The finished models were very similar to the clone phoenix that Dumbledore had created only they were far more superior since they were made by a true Master Enchanter instead of a bumbling amateur.

The aged wizard then prepared to transfigure the oak into habitats for each of the Pokémon, only to realize he had no idea what kind of environment each one lived in. Sighing, at yet another delay, Nicholas hurried out and tracked down Ash once more in order to pick the man's brain for information. Ash handed him his PokéDex instead, only to discover the wizard had no clue how to work the small data pad. Shrugging off the strangeness of the lack of technological knowledge, Ash simply followed the man back into the other cavern so he could provide the man the information he needed.

The first thing Ash explained was that the Pokémon habitats tended to overlap a bit, so it was better to build one large habitat with different areas than individual ones for each Pokémon; this was especially noticeable with the eevee that tended to stick together regardless of which evolutionary form they'd taken. Nicholas considered that information for a minute before he transfigured five of the rough oaken rods into an open box was that six inches long, six inches wide, and three inches tall. He then cast several expansion charms on the inside of the container so that the floor of the box was roughly six feet long by six feet wide and three feet deep. Nicholas then looked Ash for guidance in creating the different regions.

Ash studied the box for a few minutes before venturing a few suggestions; "You'll need a volcano, for the fire Pokémon – it doesn't need to be very big or very deep, but it will need to be hot to the touch (if the models can take the heat). Or if you're just mimicking don't worry about temperature. Next to the volcano, there should be a desert with several inches of sand and plenty of rocks and caves. A small lake or two wouldn't be amiss either. Bordering that (and the lake if needs be) you should have tall grasses, at least enough to cover the tallest Pokémon completely, with a few trees and maybe a burrow or two. Around one edge of the grassy area should be a small forest, thick enough to hide a couple of Pokémon and another pond or lake. Opposite the volcano you will need a second mountain that is covered with snow, a river, couple caves, and some short grasses and bushes. Simulated or real snow is a plus. Then you'd need a small city with a few skyscrapers and a power plant for the electrical Pokémon. How real are those models going to be?"

"They will be lifelike enough to mimic their living counterpart but they won't actually feel temperature differences nor have the animals' remarkable capabilities. So their environment only needs to mimic the real thing, not match it exactly."

"Sounds fascinating," Ash commented as he watched Nicholas begin to create each different habitat and tie them all together. His thoughts automatically wondering if the spells the older man used could be applied to pokéballs or if the magic would render the technology useless as it had when they first arrived in Gringotts on Harry's birthday. Making a mental note to discuss it with Harry at a later time, Ash returned his attention to the magical habitat that Nicholas was creating.

In the very center of the box's floor, the sorcerer had created a large lake that was five inches deep and spread out horizontally. Then a short volcano was placed in the upper left hand corner and a snow covered mountain in the lower right. In the upper right corner a series of short cave like structures were created to look like miniature buildings. Situated in the lower left hand corner was a replica of an actual power plant (a picture of which Ash had shown Nicholas using the PokéDex to show the man a few electric type habitats).

Next, a river was added flowing down from the mountain and conjuring runes used to conjure a continuous stream of water that would flow down from the mountain into the lake. To prevent the lake from overflowing and flooding the entire box, vanishing runes were placed around the edges and tied to the water conjuring rune so nothing else was mistakenly vanished. After that, a forest was grown out of the remaining oak sticks (which Nicholas had split into even smaller pieces) around the base of the mountains all the way over to the power plant on the left and half way to the city on the right. The trees ended about a foot and a half away from the edge of the lake.

Beneath the volcano, along the left most stretch of the lake nearly all the way to the power plant was a stretch of sandy desert with several outcrops of rocks with underground caves hidden beneath them. Separating the miniature forest from the desert was a stretch of grassland of medium height. The top most edge of the habitat all the way down to the lake was filled with taller grasses with several scattered grass covered huts that doubled as burrows. Towards the volcano side on the left the grasses gradually grew shorter until they vanished altogether while on the right towards the mock city they shortened down into medium length grasses dotted with mock fruit trees and berry bushes. Past the city and all the way down to the mountain range in the lower right, the grasses resembled a well manicured lawn.

Smoke issued forth from the volcano and disappeared before it reached the top edge of the box while a miniature blizzard came and went covering the mountain with fake snow that melted to become part of the river. Mock thunder storms passed over the rest of the areas including the desert only the water vanished before it ever touched the ground. On top of the power plant, tiny sparks jumped between the pylons making tiny snapping sounds. Finally, Nicholas added wards to stabilize the runes and other enchantments; to prevent the box from breaking if dropped, prevent fire and water damage both inside and out, and a few security charms to prevent someone from stealing the box or the figures inside.

He then applied Stain Resistant Charms, Unbreakable Charms, Animation Charms, and several Protection Charms designed to guard against the elements to each of the figurines. Once those were in place, he reached into the silver cauldron and pulled out the twelve bleeding heart flowers, which had crystallized as they absorbed the potion and bound together with the azurite crystals, and set one down in front of each Pokémon model.

Ash then surprisingly offered another of each type of gem used for each of the Pokémons eyes to decorate the center of the hearts (picking just the fire opal for Trickster this time). These gems were transfigured into the shape of a starburst and fused into the crystal of the hearts with Permanent Sticking Charms to add a splash of color to make each heart a little more unique. A tiny hole was drilled into the top of each heart pendant and the final drop of the potion used in the heart of the Pokémon models placed inside the hole. The holes were then sealed with tiny eye hooks that were made from a mixture that combined the last of the iron bits and the copper residue that clung to the inside of the larger cauldron.

Each finished heart was threaded onto a strip of the remaining spider silk and the silk strips died to match the color of the eyes to the corresponding Pokémon. The two ends of the silk ribbon were then tied together and secured with magic to prevent the knots from coming undone. A resizing charm was applied to each new 'collar' along with Notice-Me-Not Charms, Anti-Fraying Charms, Stain Repelling Charms, Water Repelling Wards, Weather Protection Wards, Anti-Theft Wards, and low level Shield Spells to provide a bit more protection for the creature wearing the collar.

To tie Ash and Harry (and anyone else Harry wanted to allow to know about or see the Pokémon) into the charms and wards for each of the Pokémon, he used the last strands of leftover demiguise fur to braid ten identical necklaces that were given the same protections as the collars (minus the Notice-Me-Not Charm) and linked collectively to the various charms and wards on the collars. Since the necklaces were made of the demiguise fur, they would automatically blend into whatever they touch and be virtually hidden from all but the wearer.

The collars were then attached to the Pokémon they were intended for with a mild sticking charm (since the actual Pokémon would wear the collars not the models) before the models were placed inside the habitat. Nicholas then created a hinged lid for the box, decorated the outside of the box with a tasteful carving of holly vines, leaves, and berries before wrapping the entire thing up in the very last bit of spider silk which Nicholas charmed a deep forest green.

"That was a considerable amount of work you put into those figures," Ash commented as he watched Nicholas clean up his work area.

"It was worth every bit of it too," Nicholas stated as he lifted the wrapped pensive and memory vials and another package out from where Perenelle had hidden the gifts amongst her things and set them beside his hand crafted peace offering. "It is the least I could do to try and make things up to Harry, to show him he matters to us both and that we don't need or want him to change who he is."

"He may not recognize the worth of your gift when he first sees it but I think in time he will appreciate what it represents."

Nicholas gave Ash a rueful smile that said he was well aware it might take Harry months or years to appreciate the gift and what it meant but that he appreciated the encouragement for what it was. The older man then carried his pile of gifts out to the main cavern and gently placed them down beside the others that were already there. Ash bid Nicholas and his wife good night at that point, with Nicholas soon following Ash's example as the time he spent searching for material and then enchanting the statues had taken a considerable amount of energy out of him.

It would be another hour and a half before Perenelle joined him in slumber as she finally finished what had ended up being a brief history of the last twenty three years and combined it together with the letter she had written containing her responses to Harry's questions and concerns before binding the entire set in transfigured leather made from a bit of her robes that she'd cut off for just that purpose. She then wrapped it in an engorged sheet of paper that she turned a pale blue and decorated with glittering gold and white animated snowflakes and set it on top of the other gifts when she saw them under the tree.

Harry strolled into the cave two hours before dawn carrying a thick stack of finished drawings that he'd spent all day finishing as well as the oil panting he'd finished for his father before the end of term. He quietly dug out his spare framing kits from his trunk of art supplies and set about framing the paintings before wrapping them up with the wrapping paper Ash had picked up for him upon request earlier in the holidays. The painting for his father was one of Hogwarts Castle originally sketched from memory of the view of the castle as seen from the boat ride across the lake; only the sky was painted in sunset reds and golds instead of a star filled night. Off to one side of the castle was a tiny Mule soaring through the sky with a scroll clasped in his claws.

For Lucy, in addition to the first painting he'd made for her, he'd put together a portrait of all his Pokémon lined up side by side from shortest to tallest back to shortest. He even included some of Ash's Pokémon in the picture since he'd spoken of them once or twice during his evenings with Lucy. Beneath each Pokémon he carefully wrote their species type in with his quill and ink and in parenthesis below that he added their given names (if they had one). He also picked up a small box of her favorite wizarding candy (Iced Mice) that he planned to send off along with the painting and a note.

For his grandparents, whom he didn't really know but certainly didn't hate (he just wasn't sure where they fit into his life and longed to understand why they couldn't be there for him when he needed them most) he'd done a couple of simple charcoal sketches each. For his grandmother, he drew her flying in the air as a falcon, sitting at the table reading a book, and standing in the middle of a field of grass with her arms outstretched to the sides and morphing into wings as her feet hovered just off the ground. The first and last drawings were really a point he was trying to get across; he'd seen her following him and caught her enough times transforming that he could sketch her from memory. It was also because he was fascinated by the very act of changing oneself into an animal.

His grandfather's drawings on the other hand were far different. There was one of a red fox sitting above the mouth of the cave staring off to the east, another of the man standing in the same spot standing with his hands clasping a long walking stick with his head bowed down and touching the top if walking stick, and one more of him leaning against the mouth of the cave in profile as he watched Perenelle sitting at the table reading in the background. In the last one, Harry had captured the tender look on Nicholas's face that conveyed the man's feelings for his wife. It was a poignant drawing and the only one of the entire group that Harry had filled in with colors.

It was as he was finishing sketching out this picture two nights earlier that Harry realized he wasn't really being fair to his grandparents and the reason he'd stuck around for breakfast that morning. A part of him also yearned for both of his grandparents to look at him with that much love on their faces (and made him long for his absent Grandma Delia who he'd grown to love over the years).

Finally, for both Flamels, there was a medium sized painting, done in acrylics, which Harry had done of himself from a pair of pictures his dad had taken. The first part showed a seven year old Harry sitting in the middle of a snow drift bundled up in one of Ash's jackets and tee shirts leaning against a young, unevolved Trickster who was holding Ash's hat in his mouth. Above that image, painted to blend in with the snow storm and stars he painted in the sky, was a profile of his older self superimposed over the faded outline of Trickster after his evolution with both of them staring off in the same direction. He wasn't sure what made him create this painting but it had just felt right.

Once everything was framed and wrapped, he set them all under the tree with the other presents (except for Lucy's) and dug out the other gifts he'd picked up throughout the first few days of the holiday from the Aberdeen Market. This included a tasteful gold pocket watch for his grandfather, a new wrist watch and fishing pole for his father, and a pair of lovely silk scarves (one gold and purple and the other blue and silver) for his grandmother. He then sent Mule off with Lucy's additional gifts and headed off to bed. He'd barely closed his eyes when his many Pokémon joined him, with the smaller ones jumping up and making their beds right on top of him and the larger ones curling up beside or under the camp bed. He smiled as he drifted off to sleep, warm and content for the first time since he'd first learned of his grandparents.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>_So... Harry is finally putting his pride aside as well as indirectly telling his grandparents that he isn't stupid and he knows they are constantly watching him from the distance. I realize that the whole model-making sequence is a bit wordy and detailed but I did say that most of this chapter is a filler… and I wanted to show Nicholas as a master enchanter who could build a dozen 'clones' in one day whereas Dumbledore took years to perfect his flaming pigeon and imperfect Potter Clone. Next chapter will cover Christmas and the rest of the holidays and see Harry and the rest of the students heading back to Hogwarts._

**02-12-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	20. A New Year and a Truce

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 20: A New Year and a Truce<span>_

_December 25, 1991 to January 06, 1992  
>Potter Property, Northern Highlands<br>Scotland_

Christmas morning started late as everyone had gone to bed fairly late night the before, especially Harry. Breakfast, or rather a late brunch, was a serve yourself buffet kept warm by a liberal application of a few well placed warming charms (courtesy of Perenelle) except for the fruit which was placed in a chilled bowl to keep it cool. Floating through the cave were the echoes from the construction site as a goblin only crew worked on finishing up the walls and shingling the roof (goblins only stopped working when there was no money to be made after all). The Pokémon hung around the cave in small groups, gathering around the outer walls of the main cavern where they could watch everything and enjoy their ribbon tied gifts. The four humans then took their places on a few cushions not far from the tree and ate their food while making light conversation and passing out the presents.

All four of them were a little nervous about how their gift or gifts would be received by the others but did their best to hide what they were feeling inside as they slowly began the process of unwrapping presents. Harry started with what he felt was a safe gift; the one Lucy had given him on the train. He peeled the paper off the gift and found a rather plain cardboard box that had several smaller presents tucked inside and Harry snorted at the teasing prank she caught him with. The smaller presents contained a full Wizard's Chess Set (complete with black and white pieces and collapsible chess board), a pack of Exploding Snap cards, a set of blue and bronze Gobstones, and a self turning jump rope. The note she'd stuck in with the cards said she thought he'd appreciate some of the more popular magical games since he grew up muggle and he basically banned her from buying him sweets of any kind. Harry laughed and shared the note with his dad.

Next Harry set out the personalized feeding dishes, filled full of special treats, for each of the Pokémon before selecting one of his presents that were from his grandparents. (He felt it was rude not to open one of theirs since they were technically guests and his Grandma Delia had raised him as a generally polite and well mannered boy who gave consideration to other people's feelings. At least he was when he wasn't in one of his moods.)

The one he'd chosen was the smallest one wrapped in snowflake paper that he liked because the snowflakes seemed to dance across the paper and sparkle like real ice in the sunlight. Inside he found a short note and a small hand written journal. The note explained that the journal was a partial history about the youngest two generations of Potters (not including Harry other than a brief mention) and the list of answers to his questions. He politely thanked his grandmother for the potentially precious book and set it up out of reach of the rambunctious Pokémon.

He then opened several of the smaller gifts from his father and found several pewter, stone, and crystal knickknacks he could either take with him to school or set up in one of his rooms. He also found the small cache of art supplies containing several gum erasers, a pen knife for sharpening his charcoal pencils, and a new palette knife (to replace the one Spy Cat had chewed to pieces before his evolution).

After that, he opened another of the gifts from his grandparents (from both this time) and found the stone basin (made from a single chunk of lapis lazuli) carved all over with delicate looking runes and a dozen large crystal bottles with gold chased crystal lids. Nicholas saw his confused look and explained that the bowl was used to view or store memories while the larger vials would each store up to ten memories indefinitely should he wish to protect or save a particular memory. Nicholas then offered to teach Harry how to withdraw memories before the end of the holiday or over the summer.

The next present from his dad proved to be a couple posters of embarrassingly skimpily clad girls sprawled out on beach towels with a backdrop of an ocean wave crashing over several large volcanic rocks. Ash laughed and snickered at Harry as he blushed and quickly hid the posters out of sight. The rest of the gifts were pretty tame and very much appreciated as they were mostly snacks and drinks Harry could take to school with him when he returned. The last gift, which also happened to be the last gift from his grandparents, shocked Harry speechless as the lifelike Pokémon figurines wandered through the habitat.

"Each model has a corresponding collar intended for the creature it represents," Nicholas explained after he cleared his throat. "Once the collar is placed on the critter, his or her matching model will reflect his or her current activity. When the model sleeps then you know that animal is sleeping too; same thing is true when it is eating, playing, or swimming. On the other side, when you lift out the model of one creature and speak to it, that animal will sense you thinking of him or her. If you pet the model, then he or she will feel warmth and comfort that they generally associate with you and in some cases may actually feel a ghost of your touch. Only you may take off the collars once they have been put on and they will function much like the goblin collars worn by the two that joined you at Hogwarts. There are several necklaces tucked inside the large building in the lower left hand corner, those are keyed the collars and will allow those who wear them to see through the charms and wards."

"I don't understand…" Harry whispered uncertainly as he glanced between the animated statues and his grandfather.

"I made these for you yesterday when I finally understood just how important your happiness is to me. I've watched you spend time with your… familiars… and they are a big part of your life. I've heard your father speak of how much you missed them when separated from them and saw for myself how sad they are when you are not here. These models allow you to bridge part of that gap and stay connected to them during those times of separation."

Harry nodded silently as he stared down at the models and wondered what kinds of magic went into creating them to make them seem so life like. Reaching down into the wooden box, he lifted out the replica of Trickster and held it in his hands for several minutes before gently tugging the collar free from the model and setting the miniature ninetales back in the box. Harry then grabbed the mentioned necklaces and slipped one over his head and he spent a minute studying the pendant on Trickster's collar before getting up and walking over to his oldest friend and placing the ribbon over Trickster's head. The pendant settled down over the thick ruff around the ninetales's neck and sparkled prettily as the Pokémon tried to study the pendant, causing it to sway gently back and forth.

Harry then returned to the box of models and stroked Trickster's figure with one finger while he watched the real Trickster give a short start before glancing over at Harry. Harry grinned and scratched the model behind the ears next and watched Trickster practically melt with pleasure as he gave a short groan that was half howl. Once Trickster became somewhat used to the feelings invoked by the collar's magic, Harry moved on to the next Pokémon and repeated the process. After he placed the last collar onto its intended recipient, he gave a necklace to his father and after a moments hesitation, gave one to each of his grandparents with a sheepish qualifier of 'so you won't trip over what you can't see' and a blush that said there was more to it than just that. Harry then disappeared outside with his box of models and the history journal.

Nicholas and Perenelle then turned and finally began opening their own gifts, from both Ash and Harry, as they'd exchanged their gifts to each other privately earlier that morning. The elderly couple were enthralled with the photo albums and a little saddened initially by the rather generic gifts from Harry in the form of a watch and the scarves. They were utterly flabbergasted and enchanted by the acrylic painting and accompanying charcoal sketches. The one of Nicholas gazing lovingly at Perenelle actually brought tears to the old wizard's eyes as he laid eyes on it for the first time. Perenelle on the other hand felt truly chastised when she saw the one of her in mid-transformation and awed at the same time that he'd captured the moment in a truly spectacular way.

"Harry has a true talent for capturing life, no?" Ash asked as he looked down at painting of Hogwarts that Harry had given him.

"Yes, he does," Nicholas agreed as he stared down at his portrait. "Yes, he does."

The rest of the holiday passed by very quickly in contrast to the first half. Harry slowly made an effort to get to know his grandparents, mostly from a distance, but gradually even held a few conversations with them about the magic behind the living models (as Harry had termed the miniature Pokémon statues). He also allowed Nicholas to teach him how to use the pensive and withdraw his own memories. Once Harry felt comfortable with the odd sensation, he pulled out the memory of the Halloween Incident for the benefit of his father who asked to see it. He also pulled out the memory of the day Spy Cat earned his name, so he could show his dad why he named the eevee turned umbreon such an odd name.

Ash nearly cried over the battle with the troll when he saw first hand how huge the creature was and how small Harry looked wrapped up in the thing's fist. He also felt privileged to witness Spy Cat's transformation second hand through the memory. He then laughed over Spy Cat's début as a professional undercover agent stalking the halls of the castle. The final memory Harry showed was of the Start of Term Feast, particularly the sorting of the fake Harry Potter. Nicholas and Perenelle also viewed that memory and both of them said there was something odd about the Hat's behavior and the oddly blank look in the Potter imposter's eyes.

Unfortunately the memory wasn't clear enough for them to take a closer look because Harry's emotions at the time were so negative in regards to his identity thief. After all, one's perceptions do mar one's memories even if the memory is factually correct. Meaning if a personal felt bullied then the person or people doing the bullying would seem bigger or crueler than they really were at the time. Or if a person was exceptionally happy, then the memory would seem extra bright in relation to what ever caused that happy feeling.

As New Year's Day arrived, Harry and the Flamels came to a truce of sorts in which Harry agreed exchange letters with the elderly couple (addressed simply as grandma and grandpa so as not to give away their identity in case one of the letters were intercepted) in order to actively (as opposed to passively like he had been doing) get to know them better. The Flamels in return, promised to put together a more complete history of the Flamel family (and by extension the Potter family). This would include a printed copy of the names and dates on the Flamel Family Tree, information on the various careers the Flamels, Potters, Russos, and Schmidts had prior to their passing, and copies of assorted letters the Flamels had in their possessions (providing the letters weren't too personal).

It would still be a long time before Harry trusted them completely or until he treated them as part of his immediate family but it was a start and the Flamels were greatly thankful for the progress made.

When the time came for Harry to return to Hogwarts, it was with great reluctance that he packed up his trunk, making sure to pack his snacks, drinks, and those gifts he'd decided to take back with him such as his pensieve (most notably _not_ the posters his father had gotten for him). He also packed Dilly and Spy Cat's personalized dishes, some of the dried fish that he knew they loved, and a small bit of the dried fruits. At the last minute, Harry was given about seven battered old books that looked as if they'd crumble to dust if not for the magic binding them together. Two of them were on wizarding law, one was an older potion manual, and the rest covered various magical theories for the different branches of wanded magic.

Harry dumped those into his book bag on top of his trunk to avoid the hassle of digging out his trunk just to add the books. Harry was also given a wool and acromantula silk cloak (from his grandparents) that he could wear when outside during the worst of the winter. The garment was woven through with through with warming and protection charms as well as a few standard garment upkeep charms such as the Anti-Unraveling Charm, Fire Proof Ward, Moisture Repellant Charm, and Stain Repellant Ward. It was a plain black on the outside so it matched the other children's cloaks but a deep royal blue on the inside (which was the side done in silk) and completely reversible so he could wear it outside of school when the need arose.

Then it was time to grab the portkey and head back into London with Dilemma and Spy Cat as well as the newest stow-away, Frost. Apparently the other young female eevee evolution didn't want to be left behind with just her brothers again and she'd climbed into the satchel with the other two. This time though, Harry saw her climbing in and after pondering the chances of getting caught with two illegal pets as opposed to three, decided one more wouldn't make that much of a difference in the long run and discreetly packed her food dish as well as a bit more of the dried fish. He also made sure to let his dad know that she was with him so that Ash wouldn't worry about her.

Once on the train, Harry settled into an empty compartment and let out his three Pokémon so they could be comfortable for the long trip back to the castle. With their new, improved collars he didn't have to worry about them being seen by anyone casually walking by. After making sure the three curious critters couldn't get out the door accidentally, Harry settled back to read through one of his new theory books – though in this case the term 'new' was used only in the loosest sense of the word; meaning that they newly came into his possession, not that they were fresh off the presses.

Now that he was on his way back to school, Harry began to fret about Lucy's reactions to the various gifts he had given to her. Sure, they'd written back and forth several times over the holiday but other than a few words conveying thanks and appreciation that may or may not have been sincere (though he hoped they were) they didn't really discuss what they'd given each other. He need not have worried though; because the moment Lucy saw him she gave him a short quick hug that left him a little off-balanced for the next hour or so.

When he came back to his senses, he recalled the extra necklace he'd brought so he could give one to Lucy in order to allow her to see the Pokémon without him having to take off their collars. He quickly dug it out of his pocket and passed it over to his friend as he shyly explained what it was and why he was giving it to her. She gave him a dazzling smile as she quickly put it on and then gasped out loud as she saw the newest addition to the small group.

"Oh, she's so beautiful," Lucy cooed as she dropped down onto the floor to get a closer look at the ice blue Pokémon. "Her name is Frost, right? All of the animals looked so lifelike in that painting you made me but her portrait practically sparkled. Did she stow away this time?"

"Yes, her name is Frost, and she tried to stow away, but I caught her in the act and decided I can't get in any more trouble for three unapproved pets than I could for two and there was no way Dilly and Spy Cat would be left behind as they were too helpful last term."

"Harry, can I ask you a question?"

"I suppose," Harry replied warily, something Lucy immediately noticed.

"Nothing too personal, really, it's more because I was just curious," Lucy babbled out quickly as she grinned at him in order to hide her nervousness. "Anyway, what I wanted to ask is why you sent me a second painting? I love them both, I was just surprised to get the Ice Mice and the second painting on Christmas morning after I'd already opened the first one, which both my parents thought was very well done, by the way."

"Just a feeling I had," Harry answered as he ducked his head slightly and shrugged one shoulder. "I mean… it's hard to explain but there are times when I know I need to do something or be somewhere. I know it sounds a bit silly and strange but if I try to not do what I feel needs to be done then I usually feel… I don't know, empty or maybe a bit lost. Maybe off-balanced would be a better word."

"Interesting, that's something I never would have guessed," Lucy stated with a short laugh. "I kind of feared that you maybe felt you owed it to me because of all the games I bought for you."

"No, I'd sketched and painted that water color before opening your gift, which my father really loved – he especially got a kick out of the jump rope because it kept activating for the Pokémon when they passed near it. He fell out of his chair the first time we played chess with the magical set though; my pawn had captured one of his knights. Once he got used to the violence, he loved it because he said he could play against himself now to practice."

"I'm glad you enjoyed them."

Before they knew it the train was pulling into the Hogsmeade station and the students were pouring out of the train. Harry instructed his Pokémon to jump back into the bag as he packed up his books and other belongings before the two of them headed up to the castle. Harry was going to join the other first years to ride across the lake for a third time when Lucy easily talked him into joining her in one of the carriages instead. Harry didn't mind; he didn't care for the rickety old boats that much and gladly accepted the offer. He almost changed his mind the moment he saw what was hitched between the shafts of the formerly horseless carriages though.

"What on earth is that?" He asked in a hoarse whisper as the animal in question turned around to star at him with milky white eyes set in a long, skeletal equine face that looked somewhat snake-like.

"What's what?"

"The creature hitched to the carriages."

"Er, there's nothing there. The coach has always moved under its own power. Are you feeling alright, Harry?"

"Lucy, there is a bluish black horse-like creature with a demonic face, white eyes, and bat wings parked between the shafts of that glorified wagon and it is looking right at me. How can you not see it?"

"Oh Circe," Lucy whispered with horror as she did a double take. She could faintly see the outline of the creature Harry described and she swallowed with difficulty as the horrible memory of the encounter with the troll slammed painfully into the front of her mind and she once more saw Harry's broken body in her mind's eye. She knew what thestrals were, how could she not being raised in the wizarding world with her mother and father? Up until then she'd never seen the ill-omened creatures before and desperately wished she wasn't seeing them now. "They are hideous. I… I didn't think thestrals looked that terrifying."

"Why didn't you see it at first?" Harry asked as Lucy chivvied him into the coach so she wouldn't have to see the creature any longer. "And why does seeing them bother you so much?"

"I think the reason I can see them now is because of what happened on Halloween. As for why it bothers me to see them now; thestrals are supposed to be bad luck. You only see them if you've witnessed death or torture. Most witches and wizards go their entire lives without seeing one. I never knew that it was the thestrals that pulled the carriages. How terrible. Why couldn't they use Abraxans or Aethonans instead?"

"Aren't those both types of winged horses?"

"Yes, so is a thestrals if you want to be technical but the Abraxans and Aethonans don't typically eat flesh," Lucy pointed out with a shudder of distaste. She then paused and looked at Harry with dawning horror that made Harry flinch away from her automatically. "I'm so sorry, Harry, I've been so insensitive. Here I am hyperventilating over seeing those creatures myself while you've obviously seen something far worse than I have or you never would have seen them. I can't even see them clearly, just the bare outline of them."

Harry just shook his head, not in denial that he'd seen terrible things but as an indication that he didn't want to speak of it. He was also floundering under his out of control emotions that were a direct result of the look on Lucy's face as she looked at him. Intellectually, he realized she had been concerned that she had offended him but emotionally he had thought she had been disgusted with him personally for bringing those creatures to her attention or because he could see them more clearly than she could.

"Harry? What's wrong?"

"I guess I'm just tired and shocked about the thestrals," Harry hedged without quite meeting Lucy's eyes.

Lucy commiserated with him before falling silent, her thoughts dwelling entirely on the mystery that was Harry Ketchum. She was slowly drawing a mental picture of her friend from the various little clues she'd picked up throughout the first several months of term and she thought she'd just been given another. The picture the clues painted was far from pretty, in fact it was downright ugly, and if she was right then it would explain so much. Her heart went out to her friend even as she prayed that she was wrong.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _A bit short, I know… but there really wasn't much else I could add into this chapter since it was mostly a wrap up to the holidays and getting them back to the castle. The next chapter is actually twice as long and covers quite a bit of time since we're coming up to the end of this book. In fact, there're only three more actual chapters to the story… and then there will be more chapters containing the various omakes and missing scenes which I'll post sporadically. ~ Jenn_

**02-12-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	21. A Tiring End to a Tiring Year

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 21: A Tiring End to a Tiring Year<span>_

_January 06, 1992 to June 12, 1992  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<br>Scotland_

The first thing that greeted Harry as he walked into his room in Ravenclaw Tower was a rather funny shaped packaged wrapped in brown butcher's paper and tied with twine. The sight of the rather innocent bundle sitting there so benignly on his bed (when no one but prefects, professors, and himself was supposed to be able to enter his room) had goose bumps forming along the back of his neck and arms as he hovered on the threshold of his room and searched the room with his eyes. He considered the house elves momentarily but as far as he knew they never ventured into his rooms after that one morning that first week of term, when one had popped in to make the bed and came face to face with an angry and startled pair of eevee – the Pokémon scared them far too much for them to dare enter again after that (unless they entered when they knew the Pokémon weren't in the room).

Rather than open the unmarked package (fully aware of how many of his fellow students and more than a few of the staff really didn't like him all that much) he chose to levitate it onto the top of his wardrobe where it wouldn't be opened by curious Pokémon instead. He'd ask his father if he knew anything about it or maybe ask Lucy to scan it later for hexes. He soon forgot about the mysterious gift, after mentioning it briefly to his father in a letter, as he once more turned his attention back to his studies.

Settling back into his class routine was difficult but Harry managed to do so without too much hullabaloo. This was greatly helped by the Living Models created for him by his grandfather. The models gave him a modicum of comfort that hadn't been present during the first term and he spent a good hour or two each night before bed petting and talking to the models of his absent friends. He also had the company of three Pokémon this time which took up a lot of his free time as the still excitable eevee and eevee evolutions required far more attention than his older Pokémon.

His friendship with Lucy was coming along the nicely too, they were spending more time together outside of their after dinner tutoring sessions; a fact that was slowly being noticed by some of the older Ravenclaws who started going out of their way to make Lucy's life more difficult – which she really didn't need due to the heaps of homework being piled on by the professors as the dreaded O.W.L. Exams loomed closer.

Somehow she even managed to keep the growing problem with her peers quiet from Harry, though in the end he stumbled onto the issue all on his own. Instead of confronting the older students and possibly making matters worse (Harry was under strict orders from his father to avoid any more confrontations for the rest of the year); Harry approached Lucy instead and asked her why she put up with their behavior. Lucy then confessed she was more worried they'd start bullying him if she got them in trouble. Harry gave her an exasperated look that clearly said it was a stupid reason for allowing herself to be bullied but didn't actually say anything.

Instead, he calmly led Frost over to Lucy before addressing the attentive ice Pokémon in a serious voice that relayed the importance of his command in the mind of the Pokémon. "Frost, you are to stay with Lucy and look out for her between classes. You will behave for her and not cause any trouble. And most importantly, you are to protect her if the bullies out number her. Remember and obey!"

Frost nodded and gave a sharp bark as she leaned against Lucy's leg and purred while Lucy stared down at her friend in confusion. "Hu-what just happened?"

"Pokémon are not just fancy pets, even if they are cute; they are trained to protect their Trainers and will usually help someone they see in trouble. I don't usually order them about because they are my friends but that doesn't mean I haven't trained them," Harry explained with a sigh as he realized there was so much he'd been meaning to tell Lucy but hadn't found the time or place to bring it up. "The three I have with me are still young enough to be full of excess energy; I've been having trouble finding things to occupy their attention. I basically just asked Frost to watch out for you as if you were me. She'll watch your back but otherwise just be there to offer comfort. It will keep her focused and out of trouble while at the same time offering you a bit of protection from the bullies in case they go from throwing mere taunts to throwing hexes. After all, it's your friendship with me that is making you a target."

"But won't that make it so you are less protected?"

"No, because I still have Dilly and Spy Cat traveling with me everywhere I go. They are the reason I've been nicknamed 'Ghost Boy' after all," Harry pointed out with a slight grin.

Lucy eventually stopped fighting the inevitable and accepted her new body guard and was surprised at how quickly the others bullying her soon went out of their way to avoid her. Each encounter would find the bullies being plunged into frigid air or slipping on patches of ice that suddenly appeared on the floor beneath their feet. If one of the braver bullies persisted, they eventually found themselves buried under a pile of fresh snow that fell out of nowhere. Lucy was never blamed for the strange occurrences because she never pulled her wand out of her bag or pocket during the various encounters.

From that point forward both Lucy and Harry faded into non-existence as far as the rest of the school was concerned and the pair happily studied openly in the library or on warmer days out in the courtyard. As the Easter Holidays grew near, and by extension the end of year exams, their tutoring sessions morphed from Lucy helping Harry catch up and get ahead to Harry helping Lucy revise for her more important tests by quizzing her on the fifth year material (under her guidance) and allowing her to practice the harmless spells on him as she'd done for him in the beginning. This also helped Harry learn the more advanced materials and give him a broader understanding of the way magic worked. This was especially true of the elective classes Arithmancy and Ancient Runes (which Lucy was taking); two classes he fully intended to take when third year rolled around.

For Harry, time spent with Lucy was a double edged sword that he couldn't escape. He enjoyed her company and learned quite a bit about her through their joint studying sessions and theoretical discussions. On the other hand, the more time he spent with her the deeper his crush grew and the more his crush grew the more awkward he felt around her. He also began feeling guiltier about lying to her, even if it was only by omission. He knew there were far too many risks to chance coming clean with her about who he was this early though and often prayed she'd forgive him in time. In the mean time, it took all of his will power not to flirt with her as he continued to grow fonder of the young lady that braved bullies just to be his friend.

Around the end of March, Harry overheard someone saying a familiar name that stopped him in his tracks and made his blood go cold. With Dilly perched on his shoulder, he crept closer to an alcove hidden behind a rusty suit of armor until he could clearly hear the voice of a furious Ron Weasley arguing with the oddly tinny and unemotional voice of the fake Potter. Before he could get much information from them though, the two Gryffindor boys were cut off by the ringing of the bell signaling the end of lunch.

For the rest of that afternoon, Harry couldn't get that half heard conversation out of his mind. The two boys had been discussing the name Flamel and there was only one family in the magical world with the name Flamel. And anything involving his grandparents (whose name it was that was mentioned) automatically involved Harry even if Harry wasn't exactly on the best of terms with the older man and his wife (he was still getting to know them after all). Family was family, even if they had issues with each other.

Harry flipped through the journal Perenelle had written for him but he didn't find any mention of a connection with Hogwarts, Gryffindors, or even the current Headmaster (Dumbledore), not counting the list of crimes they believed him to be responsible for when it came to their family. The Flamels never even attended Hogwarts during their extremely long lifetime as the couple had attended the French magical school, Beauxbatons. Stumped, Harry decided he'd write his first letter to his grandparents which wasn't strictly in response to a letter they themselves had written first.

He didn't just jump in and ask them what was going on though, he knew that would be rude and he hated being rude almost as much as he hated bullies (unless he was responding to another's rudeness first). He started off with the usual comments about classes, inept teachers, and immature children then skipped over to discuss a few of the contradicting theories he'd stumbled across in the books his father had given him at the end of winter holidays before finally asking if they'd decided on their summer plans. After he signed his name, he snuck in his real question as a postscript that hinted there were rumors floating about the school of some artifact or treasure being held somewhere in the school under the protection of a cerberus named Fluffy. He then sent the letter off with Noctowl who'd just delivered a care package with more healthy snacks and food for the Pokémon.

The cryptic letter he received in return to the one he'd sent left Harry feeling vaguely dissatisfied and more than a little off put. It had been extremely short without any fluff or pleasantries at all, just a curt:

_Do not speak of what you know and do not put anything down in writing; that means  
>not even hinting at it in any letter again! And for Merlin's sake, no matter what any<br>one asks or tells you to do, __**DO NOT SEEK IT! **__ We will discuss it after term._

There wasn't even a signature on the letter and the only reason Harry knew it was from his grandparents was because he recognized the handwriting and it had been delivered by Mule (who was well known for attacking anyone not family with the exception of Lucy, who had permission to borrow him on occasion). He was more than a little upset about the tone of the letter but tried not to let it bother him as he got the feeling that there was more to it than he knew.

The mystery of his grandfather's connection to whatever was hidden on the third floor faded into the back of Harry's mind though when he happened to once more stumble on one of Weasley's Foot in Mouth moments where the bigoted Gryffindor was once more shooting his mouth off to the Pathetic Potter Play Actor (Harry's latest in a list of inane names for the imposter and his loud mouthed sidekick), this time about a dragon. The boy had no sense of propriety or discretion as he loudly proclaimed said dragon a menace as he waved a bandaged hand around (apparently the fool boy had been bitten by the dragon recently).

The annoying kid admittedly had connections though, because Harry overheard their plans to ship the dragon off with friends of an older brother during the coming weekend. Harry was tempted to rat them out; especially after Weasley had tried to make the year a living hell for Harry (key word tried). Not to mention the fact that the boy loved shoving his supposed friendship with the Boy-Who-Lived in everyone's faces every chance he got. Any time Harry heard or saw those moments he'd snort and roll his eyes knowing the kid was so going to have a conniption fit when the truth finally came out.

In the end, Harry didn't even have to rat the two boys out to get them in trouble. One of the Slytherin first years had done it for him. Draco Malfoy, who the entire school knew had an ongoing feud with the Weasley family (and by association the Potter Fake), had tattled on them and got himself in trouble at the same time. It was the talk of the school for days, because the Wonder-Dunces Potter and Weasley lost their house a hundred and fifty points between the two of them and spent a week's worth of detention with Professor Snape who deducted even more points during said detentions until the total losses were well over two hundred and fifty points.

Harry only took notice of the entire 'scandal' because several of the other older Gryffindors were in a complete snit about the major loss because it effectively took them out of the running for the House Cup. He was actually surprised that Granger wasn't attempting to gain the points back during classes but she'd been noticeably subdued since Halloween though he knew she had no memory of the incident. As it was, by the first day of the exams, Ravenclaw was well in the lead for house points (because they rarely ever lost many), Slytherin in a not so close second, and Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tied for forth due to the Quidditch standings; though Harry only knew that from the rumors he heard as he never actually watched any of the games.

The end of the year exams themselves were fairly easy for Harry because he was so far ahead of his classmates due to the time he spent studying with Lucy and researching on his own. It also helped that he spent more time reviewing the material than playing around like some of the other students. Poor Granger nearly had a mental breakdown over the exams; apparently she didn't handle pressure all that well. Even a few of Harry's fellow Ravenclaws were beyond stressed about the exams, especially the first years. When Harry asked Lucy why so many people seemed so stressed, she said it was because if a student failed more than two exams they could be flunked out of the school and those students usually had their wands snapped instead of just transferring to a new school.

Harry was disgusted by the policy after hearing it because it put undue pressure on the students and created a panic in those that had nothing to go back to. This was especially true of the muggleborns who had given up their mundane education just to attend Hogwarts to learn magic. All in all, the more Harry learned of the wizarding world the more he longed to go home. He regretted not taking the time to draw a door home to see if they could breach the barrier between the two worlds during the Christmas Holidays but Harry had been afraid he'd be left alone since his father would be the only one to test the door until they knew how freely they could travel back and forth. That and Harry had been researching (on the side) any possible leads on what kind of magic was involved in the creation of the doorways to begin with but hadn't had any luck so far.

The last few days before the end of term, right after he finished his last test, only emphasized his desire to leave this world to its fate; if not for the fact that the Pokémon world's fate was directly linked to the continued existence of this world due to Harry breaching the barrier between the worlds in the first place he would have been tempted to do just that. Harry had just finished his written Charms test and wandered through the halls of Hogwarts feeling wrung out as he aimed for the kitchens to get a light snack before supper. The elves cooperated eagerly and he spent a good twenty minutes sharing sugarless banana and bran muffins with Spy Cat and Dilemma under the nervous supervision of the elves. When he finished, he headed back out and made it all the way up to the third floor before he ran into trouble in the form of five first year Gryffindors huddling near the entrance to the forbidden corridor.

Weasley, of course, was trying to talk the others into helping him search for the 'hidden treasure' later that night since Dumbledore had left the castle for the day. Granger was standing off to one side making snide remarks about Weasley's chances of getting through any traps but the red headed idiot swore he knew how to get passed the only real challenge; the cerberus. Disgusted, Harry had made sure Dilly was seated firmly on his shoulder, and therefore making him essentially invisible, before he loudly muttered, "You are all a bunch of idiots; leave this corridor at once or suffer the consequences!" just loud enough for his words and voice to echo eerily up and down the hallway.

Harry then smirked as the other first years screamed and fled without even stopping to look to see who had snuck up on them. Thinking the matter solved, Harry trotted the rest of the way up to Ravenclaw Tower, answered a simple riddle the statue gave him, and then climbed up the seven flights of stairs to his room. He forwent attending supper in the Great Hall as he'd eaten both breakfast and lunch there with Lucy that day and he was far too tired to climb all the way back down to the Great Hall only to come right back up. After making sure his door was shut, he poured the Pokémon some food in case they got hungry, curled up on top of his bed, and soon drifted off to sleep.

Around midnight, while Harry slept, three seventh year boys (including one former prefect by the name of Quimby) slipped into his room after using an advanced unlocking charm to bypass the standard protective wards on the room. Quimby, while cowed at the beginning of the year with the threat of expulsion and whatever had happened during Harry's blackout moment, would be leaving Hogwarts in a few days for good as he was officially done with his final year. He'd waited all year long to get revenge on the little pest that had cost him his badge and respect of his head of house (his courage growing as time passed and nothing more happened to him). That is why he was currently sneaking into the 'little' first year's room with a few of his friends.

Not wasting any time, Quimby hit Harry with the Full Body Bind then grabbed his feet while one of his friends picked him up by the head and shoulders. Then, with the third boy opening doors and playing lookout the three of them carried their burden down seven flights of stairs into the common room where they took a five minute break to catch their breath. Now that they had him downstairs and out of earshot of any nosy brats that happened to wake up or walk by, the group used magic to levitate their prisoner out of the tower and down to the first floor with the intention of taking the whelp out the castle entrance where they'd hex him good before dumping him at the edge of the forest. Quimby even verbally considered roughing up the snot nosed kid's face a second time just for fun.

They were just coming up to the main staircase that led down into the entrance hall when two of the boys suddenly tripped over nothing. Quimby, the only one who hadn't tripped, felt something bite his ankle but when he turned around and searched for his attacker, he couldn't see anything there. Nervously the others scrambled back to their feet and the three of them lit the tips of their wands in an effort to see their opponents. They still appeared to be alone in the hallway though, with only the hexed boy for company.

Backing together, the three seventh years faced outwards as they continued to search the area around them. They were just starting to relax, thinking maybe Peeves had been playing a joke on them when something growled angrily from somewhere near the first year. The three bullies looked down to find the boy had vanished as a shadowy shape of a large black ball with a glowing iris of deep purple hovering just a few feet away from where they had left the boy. A heartbeat later the ball suddenly flew at them and bowled them over; sending all three boys flying down the hallway until their momentum was stopped by a wall. The impact knocked them unconscious and the Shadow Ball Attack left them with their clothes smoking slightly and a good bit of hair singed off their bodies and faces.

The moment Quimby passed out, the spell he cast on Harry ended and Harry was finally able to move once more. As he sat up and wrapped his arms around Dilemma, who'd been sitting on his chest, he fought back the rising anger mixed with a touch of panic that had been growing during the unwanted journey through the castle. He'd heard every word of what the three seventh years had planned to do to him (both magically and physically) as he'd been woken up by the body bind the moment it hit him. He hadn't felt so damned helpless in years. It was even worse than the bullying incident at the beginning of the year and the troll attack on Halloween due to the psychological impact their whispered threats had on him which only served to make him angrier with himself for the perceived weakness.

If he'd actually been an eleven year old he probably would have given into the panic and lost all conscious awareness of his surroundings. As it was his age coupled with his emotional maturity allowed him to push passed the anxiety he felt and helped in no small part by the rising anger he felt over the fact that his sanctuary within Hogwarts had been breached by the three bullies. Climbing stiffly to his feet, his body aching from the two boys dropping him when they had been tripped up by the unseen Dilemma and Spy Cat, Harry growled as he glared in the direction of the three unconscious seventh years. In his arms, Dilemma whimpered nervously as Harry's magic swirled out of his control for several minutes while Spy Cat growled softly as he pawed at his left leg.

Drawn out of his inner turmoil, Harry immediately forced himself to calm down as he comforted the worried Pokémon; kneeling down so he could hold both of them. After a few minutes, he threw a another dark glare towards the three figures slumped against the far end of the hall but soon turned his attention to more pressing matters as an explosion rocked the entire castle. Perched precariously as he was near the top of the staircase, Harry didn't have any time to brace himself as he was knocked off balance and thrown backwards, along with the two Pokémon, down the staircase when the floor shook and trembled beneath him.

The only thing that saved him from tumbling head over heels down the entire length of the stairs and a rather painful landing at the end was the blue shield that sprang up around him the moment his fear spiked in response to his backwards plunge. Bruised and dazed, Harry lay sprawled about a third of the way down the stairs with his two shaken Pokémon huddled tightly against his body as he tried to catch his breath.

Meanwhile, two floors above where Harry lay in a haze of pain, one powerful wizard and one powerful shade possessing the rather weak-willed and former Quirenus Quirrell battled their way out of the destroyed remains of a hidden sub-level chamber below the third floor corridor. The Voldemort possessed Quirrell desperately trying to break free from the fight so he could escape the series of pathetic traps and make his way towards the castle's entrance and ultimately his freedom. The soon to be former Defense Against the Dark Arts and one time Muggle Studies professor was already nothing more than an animated corpse by the time Dumbledore had confronted the possessed wizard after Voldemort had destroyed the Potter Clone and greatly injured the youngest Weasley boy and two other students down where the children had been stumped by Snape's obstacle.

Dumbledore had immediately intervened at that point, furious that he'd lost yet another clone this year (the first one being Fawkes) and began battling Voldemort in the hopes of chasing the former Dark Lord out of the castle. Tom was still powerful enough to match him though, and the shade of the former Dark Lord had managed to get his hands on Dumbledore's Sorcerer's Stone as well, which really upset Albus; he'd blackmailed that stone away from the Flamels fair and square and wasn't really of a mind to let Tom Riddle, a half blooded nobody, steal it from him now.

The one and only glitch in Albus's plans to regain control of the stone came when a stray spell hit the stone where it had been grasped in Quirrell's dead fingers. The stone had exploded with enough force to destroy the transfigured chest set that had been one of the obstacles and partially collapse three of the magically expanded rooms beneath the third floor corridor. Thankfully, the entire corridor hadn't collapsed as the students still trapped below would have been instantly killed; not that Dumbledore cared right that moment (if ever).

Albus then decided that he would curb Tom's freedom once and for all this very night (intending to capture the shade so he could hold him until he needed him once again) and so continued to battle the homeless wizard's soul (because a stolen body that died while you possessed it wasn't really the proper resting place for one's soul) all through the castle as said soul tried to flee in the broken body that was decaying around it. Tom was gradually losing his momentum as they drew closer to the first floor of the castle and Dumbledore felt that the end was near as he danced the dance of battle as strong as when he first started. This particular loose end was about to knot itself with perfect timing; all Albus had to do was contain Tom's soul before it could flee once it was separated from Quirrell's body.

Fate then interfered for a second time that night in Dumbledore's plans as their battle literally stumbled upon Harry Ketchum frozen in place partway down the main staircase as if he'd been placed there by magic in order to thwart Dumbledore instead of by pure happenstance and a trio of bullies. The macabre marionette that was Quirrell-suited Voldemort never even saw his salvation and his curse blocking his way out of the castle and Dumbledore was far too involved in the duel and focused on Tom to see impending disaster.

And happen it did. One minute Voldemort was shuffling the burden of Quirrell's once living body backwards down the main staircase and the next he was being shoved high into the air as the shield shimmering around Harry's body deflected the perceived threat; which in this instant was any person or creature attempting to breach the four foot diameter of the magical shield that held Harry securely in place. Even the two Pokémon wouldn't have been able to break through that shield if they had ended up outside of the blue dome instead of inside of it with Harry.

Dumbledore practically screamed in frustration, if one could call his strangled cry a scream, as he watched Voldemort's borrowed body go sailing up well over ten feet into the air before arching out over the bottom half of the stairs and crashing violently into the stone floor of the entrance hall. In the instant Quirrell's body impacted on the stone floor, Voldemort's shade was forcefully ejected from his former host and torn into five shards as an agonized scream was pulled from what had once been Tom Riddle's soul.

The pieces of the shattered soul that had once been called the most feared Dark Lord of the past century then burst into a thousand pieces as the links to the five anchors that had held Tom Riddle to the mortal plane snapped the instant his soul was torn asunder. At the same time as the shade once known as Lord Voldemort passed on to his eternal rest, the body of the professor it had formerly occupied disintegrated into dust due to the prolonged exposure to Voldemort's dark magic, the brief contact with the incomplete Philosopher's Stone, the brush against the protective nature of Harry's accidental shield, and the force of the impact.

In his anger, Dumbledore sought to punish the one he thought took away his triumph and he fired a blazing purple spell of dark flames followed by a simple stunner at the glowing sphere on the stairs, only to be forced to drop painfully down onto his hands and knees as his spells bounced off the dome and flew back in his direction three times more powerful than they'd originally been. Both spells impacted the wall behind Dumbledore and vaporized the thick castle stones. Dumbledore swallowed thickly over the near death experience and as he turned to survey the damage, he caught sight of the three seventh years lying in an unconscious heap down at the far end of the hallway.

Knowing his moment of triumph was long gone now; Dumbledore growled under his breath and sounded the castle's emergency beacon to alert the other teachers. He'd have to run interference in order to hide the truth of what occurred tonight and to buy time to reconstruct his clone; although he did have that old model up in his office; maybe he could say any oddities were the result of the epic battle Harry Potter had waged against the Dark Lord that changed the boy.

Course of action charted, Dumbledore turned his attention to the student who'd interfered and set about canceling out the shield or overpowering it so it crashed. His efforts were greatly hindered by the protective nature of the magic sustaining the shield as it perceived even the most benign of spells as an attack (doubly so since the shield recognized Dumbledore's magical signature and cataloged him as dangerous due to that first deadly spell he'd fired at the shield).

After the first two hours, Dumbledore had given up trying to break through the shield and claimed important business at the Ministry (due to the 'break in' and subsequent fight) to avoid displaying his growing frustration and temper in front of his staff. Filius, as the Head of House in charge of the three unconscious seventh years that had been found near the shield and the in-house Charms expert, was delegated to continue the attempt to disable the shield. Flitwick, much to his chagrin (and intellectual excitement), wasn't anymore successful than the headmaster at his efforts of dispelling the blue dome that completely blocked the main staircase.

Around the three hour mark, Snape, who was in a foul mood for who knew what reason this time, attempted to overpower the shield from below and got more than a little singed for his efforts when the shield bounced his spells right back at him much as it had Dumbledore's earlier spells. Thankfully (for Snape's reputation), only a few of the most dedicated students were up early enough to witness the spectacle. Most of the rest of the students had been far more interested in getting a few extra hours of sleep to recoup from the exhausting end of term exams.

In the end, it took over five hours for the shield to dissipate and that was only because that was how long it took for Harry to get over the shock that Dumbledore had basically just tried to kill him on top of the pain he felt. Exhausted from the strain of sustaining the sheer volume of magic required for maintaining the protective shield for such an extended period of time, Harry carefully righted himself and leaned against the rails of the staircase as the shield shimmered and shattered before fading away completely now that he was no longer in imminent danger. Glancing wearily around he was surprised to find several staff members both ascending and descending the stairs warily with their wands out.

Not wanting the staff to find out about his Pokémon in the event that they could overpower the wards and charms on the collars, Harry softly asked Spy Cat to use confuse ray to distract the various professors before sending both Pokémon up to the top of the stairs where they'd be out of the way. Ten minutes later, once the confusion cleared from their minds, the professors found Harry sitting propped up against the rails a third of the way down the stairs, the right side of his head and face bruised and covered in blood from where he'd hit one of the stairs when he'd been knocked over earlier. Filius had groaned in dismay the moment he recognized Harry and Harry couldn't help but chuckle softly, and without humor, over the short wizard's reaction.

Near the time Snape had been hit with his rebounding spells, a frantic Frost had finally managed to wake the young lady she'd been watching over. The young glaceon had become worried for her trainer around midnight but hadn't started panicking until she had felt the explosion rock the castle. Unfortunately, Lucy had locked the eevee evolution in the room with her when she went to bed the night before and had been so exhausted from her recent exams that she'd slept through most of the worried Pokémon's antics and attempts to wake her after having taken a mild sleeping potion to make certain she got enough sleep.

It wasn't until just a few minutes before six o'clock that the desperate fox-cat had finally managed to rouse the fifth year from her slumber. The moment the Pokémon had the girl's attention, she'd jumped down off the bed and began pawing and scratching at the door in turns all the while whining and growling as she tried to get out. It took Lucy a few minutes to realize the Pokémon was upset about something and she quickly threw a robe over her nightgown, grabbed her wand off her dresser, and gathered the frantic Pokémon into her arms before opening the door (no easy task considering how large she was).

Hoping that Harry would have some idea what was wrong with the creature, she hurried down the stairs to the common room before rushing up the stairs that led to the first year boys' dorm. Once on the seventh floor, she made a bee-line for Harry's room only to stop without touching the door when she found the protective wards on the door undone and the door itself sitting partially open. Trepidation flooded through her as she pushed the door the rest of the way open with her foot and peered inside to find his belongings scattered all over the room, his bed only slightly rumpled (as if he'd only slept on top of the covers for a short time), and Harry no where in sight. The other two Pokémon were no where to be seen either.

What bothered Lucy the most though, was the fact that she saw Harry's wand sitting on his desk and she knew that Harry never went anywhere without his wand in hand ever since Quimby caught him without it that first day of classes.

Lucy grabbed the wand and shifted the ice blue animal in her arms so she could look her in the eye and carefully ordered; "I have to find Harry and I'm going to need your help. We need to hurry, because I've got a bad feeling about this, but I need you to not run too far ahead of me or I will loose sight of you and won't be able to help him." The creature nodded as if it understood and once down on the floor, she took off at a quick trot down the stairs leading into the common room pausing only long enough to make sure Lucy was still following before continuing on.

In this fashion, Lucy found herself led on the most direct path through the castle down to the first floor where she found a handful of students loitering around the main staircase where several professors were hovering over someone sitting partway down the stairs. She instantly knew Harry was the one the professors were standing over when she saw Frost join the other two Pokémon off to one side of the staircase after Dilemma had called out to the larger glaceon. Knowing there was really nothing she could do right that moment; Lucy joined the three subdued Pokémon and watched as a silver cat streaked off through the halls in the direction of the Infirmary while Flitwick gently transferred Harry onto a conjured stretcher.

When her Head of House climbed up to the top of the stairs with the stretcher floating in his wake, Lucy stepped up to the shorter wizard and handed him Harry's wand as she explained finding the dismantled wards on Harry's room and the state she'd found the room in when she went to invite the younger boy down to breakfast since they hadn't been able to spend much time together once the end of term exams began. It was a slight fib on Lucy's part but their entire house was well aware of Harry's penchant for being an early riser and knew that the younger boy often sat with the fifth year prefect during meals; and she absolutely refused to reveal the presence of the Pokémon.

Harry, unfortunately, was unable to contribute to the conversation or shed light on how he'd come to be sitting in the middle of the stairs as he'd fallen unconscious shortly before Flitwick had placed him on the stretcher; the seventeen year old exhausted from the amount of magic he expended combined with a concussion. It would be well over thirty-six hours before Harry regained consciousness due to the exhaustion. While waiting for the first year to wake, the three seventh years found near stairway confessed to basically kidnapping the first year with the intent to harm.

Even after waking, Harry would remain quiet and withdrawn, the constant headaches and dizziness from the lingering concussion combined with the confusion and pain caused by the constant fluctuating noise levels making it hard to concentrate on anything. His unresponsiveness worried Lucy to no end even though Healer Pye assured her it was a common reaction in people suffering from concussions and that it would pass. Spy Cat tried to heal him on more than one occasion but Harry hadn't been left alone long enough for him to use Moonlight.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _I'm not sure I'm happy with how the chapter ended but at least I didn't make Harry a complete wimp after the changes and I fixed the part where Hermione went back to her former snotty self so it is much better than it was before. _

_Only two more official chapters left to go. There will at least be two more chapters after the official end of the story; an omake covering Spy Cat's naming day and a missing moment to show Hermione's reaction to learning about the memory charm that had been used on her. ~ Jenn_

**02-12-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	22. Medical Examinations and Theories

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 22: Medical Examinations and Theories<span>_

_Sunday Afternoon, June 14, 1992  
>Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts Castle<br>Scotland_

Albus Dumbledore sat seething behind his desk in his office as he stared at the remains of the devices that he'd long used to monitor the life of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. He'd been in a right foul mood ever since Voldemort's shade had attempted to steal his Sorcerer's Stone out from the bowels of the castle two nights earlier. Not only had he lost both the Stone and his Potter Clone that night, he'd lost Riddle's soul as well since the disembodied wizard's soul had been shattered that night; killing the shade. The stress placed upon the younger wizard's soul that night combined with the constant pull of the five soul anchors he'd made to cheat death had destroyed Dumbledore's self molded Dark Lord the instant he'd been forcefully ejected from his dead host.

It wasn't that Dumbledore cared that Riddle was dead; he would have eventually killed the man himself. No, Dumbledore was pissed about the loss of his pet Dark Lord because it ruined all of his carefully crafted plans. Decades of hard work and meticulous plotting washed down the drain all because of the interference of one pathetic little Ravenclaw. Worse yet was the fact that his precious Sorcerer's Stone had been destroyed! The only good thing about the loss of the Stone was that the Flamels would soon be passing over to the other side as that had been their only Stone.

As soon as the Flamels died, Dumbledore could use the Potter Clone to claim their vast fortune and all of their research notes for himself and then he'd be able to make his own Stone. In order to do that though, he'd need to make an appointment at Gringotts to straighten out the issues with the Potter Trust Vault and allow the boy's blood to be tested to prove he was the last living heir to the Flamels. The problem, of course, lay in the fact that Dumbledore only had a limited amount of Harry Potter's blood that he'd stolen from the kid the night his parents had been killed. The goblins would know the blood was old the moment they tested it and they would question the reason for using old blood when Dumbledore so obviously had access to the child in question.

Frustrated didn't even begin to cover Dumbledore's mood at this point. He knew he could easily pull the wool over the goblins' eyes but it wasn't something he could do on the spur of the moment. It would take him two or three years in order to properly plan everything out because the slightest mistake would set the entire goblin nation after his head. Knowing he didn't have much choice, Dumbledore set about plotting out his next course of action; which included upgrading and replacing the Potter Clone and coming up with a replacement of sorts for Voldemort because he needed a Dark Lord for the world to focus on to keep their attention off of him and training a new one to take his place would take time and effort.

As he got to work, Dumbledore made a mental note to keep a close watch on the Ketchum family in order to make certain that they didn't cause him any more problems.

* * *

><p><em>Friday Afternoon, June 19, 1992<br>Platform 9 ¾, Kings Cross Station  
>London, England<em>

On the last day of term, Lucy used a packing spell to pack up all of Harry's belongings (including the forgotten gift hiding on top of the wardrobe) before searching his desk for anything that was missed. She also obtained Flitwick's help in disabling the wards on Harry's common room study space so she could gather his class books and other supplies too. The reason Lucy was packing his things was due to the first year having been confined to the hospital wing even after regaining consciousness due to the lingering concussion. Once his things had been packed, and the three Pokémon hidden inside of Harry's expanded satchel, Harry was transported out to the train where he was promptly ensconced in a compartments close to the prefect's carriage at the front of the train where he could be watched over for the duration of the trip.

Lucy opted to join him at the same time in order to discourage any trouble makers from attacking Harry while he was still experiencing the disorientation, severe headaches, and reoccurring bouts of clumsiness. Since they were both effectively missing breakfast, Professor Flitwick had provided them with a box of food from the kitchens containing more than enough food to feed the two teens both breakfast and lunch and still have plenty of food to offer the three Pokémon. The two of them ate in silence as Harry was still mostly unresponsive and withdrawn; luckily Lucy was completely aware of Harry's dietary needs and made certain the first year didn't accidentally take any of the sugary confections that had been included in the box of food provided because Harry hadn't really paid any attention to what he was eating at the time.

When the rest of the students finally started boarding the train, several of the first and second years swung by their compartment to gawk at Harry; a number of them laughing at his condition and hinting that his current condition was due to an unstable mental state. Lucy later learned the reason for all of the attention was due to the Headmaster having made an inappropriate announcement informing the entire school about Harry's current condition. Even Granger swung by their compartment but the first year Gryffindor seemed uncertain and confused and left without saying anything at all and Lucy figured she hadn't gotten over the fact that someone had stolen her memories. Sadly there was no spell in the world that could restore an Obliviated memory to the person who lost it and reading about the entire troll incident in the paper had rocked the young bookworm and left her feeling even more insecure.

Once the train reached King's Cross Station, Lucy waited for most of the students to depart before she exited the train to search for Harry's father while the conductor stood watch over Harry. Lucy would have liked to have sent the man another letter about what happened (to make certain he'd been informed through the proper channels this time) but she'd not seen hide or feather of Mule or Mr. Ketchum's owl, Noctowl, during those last few days of school. She positively dreaded his reaction to finding his son in his current state. It didn't take her long to catch sight of Harry's father's messy hair in the thinning crowd and Lucy quickly made her way in his direction.

"Mr. Ketchum?"

At the sound of her voice, Ash turned around and smiled down at her and opened his mouth to say something when he suddenly stopped and searched the nearby platform. She knew he was searching for his son and she was certain he'd be concerned when he didn't find him after noticing how few people there were still on the platform.

"Harry's still on the train, sir," Lucy revealed as she backed away slightly and half turned back towards the train. "If you'll please follow me; I will take you to him. I thought it best not to move him until most of the crowd dispersed."

Mr. Ketchum followed her without question and without hesitation and she did her best to ignore her growing trepidation over his reaction when he finally saw his son. As they reached the compartment, she watched as the man took one look inside and then stiffened the moment he saw his son sitting stiffly in the farthest corner of the compartment with a blank look on his face as he stared unseeingly at the seat across from him.

"What happened?" Ash asked in a tight voice.

"I don't exactly know all of the details but he was some how taken from his room by three older students just a few days before the end of term. I don't think they actually managed to harm him, though that was what they intended, and he somehow ended up taking a tumble down the main staircase and hit his head. Something else happened that night but I have no idea what since the Headmaster and staff quickly quashed any rumors that cropped up."

"He fell unconscious shortly after he was found and didn't wake up until a day and a half later; Healer Pye told me he was suffering from a moderately severe concussion and he only told me that because I pestered him each time I visited Harry in the hospital wing. Harry's pretty much been unresponsive ever since he woke up so I still don't know how much he remembers from that night."

Mr. Ketchum made a strangled sound after that revelation but Lucy was too afraid to look at him to see what he was feeling or thinking as she continued speaking, "I wanted to warn you but I never saw Mule or Noctowl after it happened and I didn't dare use a school owl to send out information like that. I do have a letter for you from Healer Pye, regarding Harry's initial treatment, some instructions on things to avoid until Harry's completely recovered, and information on how to contact Healer Pye for follow-up appointments."

Lucy turned then and saw the man give a jerky nod before he entered the compartment and thanked the conductor for watching over his son before asking the other man to leave. As she watched from out in the hall, she saw the older man kneel before his son and begin whispering to the boy. She had no idea what it was he was saying to him and felt reluctant to intrude in case her presence only made the situation worse. After several long minutes of watching, she was amazed when Harry seemed to come alive before her eyes.

The boy awkwardly flung himself into his father's waiting arms with a loud groan that almost sounded like a growl of frustration. Lucy reluctantly tore her gaze away from the touching scene in order to give the pair a little privacy. Inside she was feeling greatly relieved that the man had managed to get through to Harry and just a touch jealous that she hadn't been able to reach Harry on her own. She ruthlessly squashed the unwanted envy as she felt the idea of crushing on what she thought was her _younger_ friend was totally wrong and inappropriate – not that it stopped her from wishing he was older.

Back in the compartment, Harry quickly went from overemotional at finally recognizing his father's presence to highly confused as he had no idea where he was or when his father actually arrived as the last thing he clearly remembered was the three seventh years attacking him in his bed (the events immediately before and after his tumble down the stairs more than a little fuzzy in his mind).

"You feeling alright there, Sport?"

"Ungh… not so loud please, dad. My head feels like I had a heard of hippowdon tap-dancing on my brain for weeks and it hurts to think… How…? Where…? Urgh… can't concentrate."

"Easy there, Champ, from what I understand you ended up taking quite the knock to your noggin falling down the stairs. I suspect your headache and the difficulty concentrating are symptoms of your lingering concussion. Symptoms that'll fade in time, I'm certain," Ash murmured in a softer tone

Harry nodded slowly in understanding even as his brow furrowed while Ash gathered Harry's belongings and settled the three eevee evolutions back into the practically bottomless satchel before lifting down the other trunk he assumed belonged to Harry's young friend. Ash then had to drop both trunks to steady Harry when the teen swayed dizzily on his feet the moment he stood up. Lucy rushed into the compartment at that moment to help Ash support Harry; much to the seventeen year old's embarrassment.

Ash and Lucy then each grabbed one of the trunks from the floor before they guided Harry, who was stumbling with practically each step, off of the train. Once clear of the train, they stopped to let Harry catch his breath; the younger man breathing heavily and sweating profusely from the effort of moving even that short distance. As they stood there, Harry leaned into his father instinctively as he closed his eyes and bit back the moan on the tip of his tongue as his head throbbed painfully with each beat of his heart.

"While we're waiting for Harry to catch his breath, why don't you let me see that letter you mentioned Healer Pye entrusting to you," Ash suggested softly as he lowered the suitcase he was carrying to the ground while keeping one arm wrapped around Harry's waist.

It took Lucy a few minutes to dig the requested letter out of her robes since she had placed it in the pocket that was currently on the side closest to Harry (whom she hadn't actually let go of completely). Once she managed to pull the letter out, she silently passed it over to Ash before moving closer to better support Harry's weight while the older man opened the letter awkwardly with one hand. By the time he finished reading the letter; Ash was swearing worse than a sailor under his breath as he practically crushed the parchment in his hand and glared off in the direction of the tracks leading towards Scotland and Hogwarts. On the other side of Harry, Lucy was paling and blushing in turns as she listened to the words that poured forth from obviously upset father.

After a few minutes, Ash trailed off with a growl as he turned his attention to his son. He frowned worriedly as he glanced between the crumpled letter in his hand and Harry several times before looking up to catch Lucy's eye. Taking a deep breath, he addressed the young lady, "Miss Carmichael, I'd like to thank you for watching over my son both today and throughout the school year. If you need to leave, since I'm certain your family must be concerned over your tardiness, please don't feel obligated to stick around. Harry and I both would understand considering how much you've already done for our small family and I'm certain I speak for Harry when I say neither of us wishes to create any trouble for you with your family."

"My parents should already be aware that I will be returning later than usual," Lucy countered with a shaky smile. "I asked my younger brother to pass along a message to our parents to let them know I would be running late returning. I'm also fully aware that you are unable to use any form of magical transportation to get him to your home because of his concussion; I spent several hours researching his condition once I'd learned why he hadn't been released from the Infirmary immediately after he regained consciousness. The limitations on transportation are one of the reasons why they didn't transfer him to St. Mungo's this time since moving him through magical means in his current condition would only make his condition worse."

"Yeah, I saw the strong warning against moving him via magical means," Ash muttered as he ran the hand holding the letter through his hair as he glowered at the barrier separating the magical platform from the muggle side of King's Cross Station. "At least I don't have to worry about hauling him all the way back up to Scotland in his current condition."

"You live in Scotland? It will take you days to get home through muggle means from here," Lucy gasped as she jumped a bit over that revelation. "Why didn't they just allow you to pick him up from the school?"

"It is actually far easier to transport him to our London Townhouse from here than it would have been to get him from the castle to our property in the Highlands; though I sincerely doubt the staff was aware of that when they sent him home on the train in such poor shape. The only problem will be getting him out of the main station without attracting undue attention."

In the end, the trio made use of the Notice-Me-Not Charms on the collars of Harry's Pokémon to navigate through the crowded train station without drawing attention to the fact that both Harry and Lucy were wearing robes and that Harry was staggering about as if drunk. Lucy then watched over Harry while Ash hailed a taxi cab to take them to the Ketchum's townhouse and after a short internal debate, Lucy climbed into the cab behind Harry instead of heading back into the station to take the Floo Connection home from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Her justification; Ash would need her help getting Harry out of the cab and into the house despite the fact that her rampant blush said she was more interested in learning where Harry lived when he was in London.

* * *

><p><em>Friday Afternoon, June 19, 1992<br>Ketchum Residence, Greater London  
>England<em>

An hour and a half later the trio was standing on the curb, Ash leaning through the front window of the cab as he paid the driver. Collecting his change, Ash stepped away from the taxi and watched the man pull away from the curb before he turned to observe his son's friend studying the rather elegant townhouse they'd been dropped off at. The outside of the three story building was painted a soft rose brown which allowed it to stand out from the neighboring townhouses one of which was pale green while the other was a light yellow. The rest of the homes on the street were painted one of the same three colors in alternating patterns.

The small strip of yard that lay between the sidewalk and the front of the house was filled with exactly twelve inches of shortly cropped grass followed by a boxed hedge that would soon require a trim in order to maintain the clinical appearance that the rest of the houses along the street presented. Off the left, sandwiched between his house and his neighbor's house, was a pristine driveway clear of inevitable oil stains that often plagued automobile owners.

The reason for the anomaly being the distinct lack of said automobile as neither Ash nor Harry had any reason to purchase a vehicle at this time since neither man had a driver's license in this world and both of them preferred walking, sailing, or flying to driving. Bicycles were, of course, to be avoided at all cost given Ash's track record with the two-wheeled mechanical conveyances; something that Misty and May had learned first hand when they first met Ash.

"Come on, Harry, let's get you inside where you can lay down for a spell," Ash insisted softly after allowing the young lady a moment to survey the building.

"Lounge… please?" Harry practically begged, referring to the large parlor on the ground floor that he and Ash had turned into a living room. "Don't feel like climbing."

"The lounge it is then, Sport," Ash agreed as he once more situated Harry's arm over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist to offer support as the three of them headed up to the front door.

Once Harry was deposited onto one of the two couches that occupied the lounge, Ash turned his attention to the fireplace in an effort to figure out how to use the blasted thing to 'Floo' Healer Pye in order to set up an appointment for the Mediwizard in training to check Harry's progress and make certain the long day of travel hadn't made things worse. He was aware that 'Flooing' involved the fireplace and flames but beyond that he had no idea how it worked since he'd never used the Floo before.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Ketchum?" Lucy asked in confusion as she watched the older man running his hands over the outside of the fireplace.

"Ah, not exactly; I was just trying to figure out how to get the Floo working so I could get in touch with Healer Pye. I can't seem to find the switch to turn it on though."

"You've never made a call or traveled by Floo before, have you, Mr. Ketchum?" Lucy inquired as she hid a laugh over the thought of needing a switch to turn on the Floo when all you needed was to have the fireplace connected to the Floo Network and a fire to make a call or travel to your destination.

"That obvious, hmm?"

"A little bit. So long as the fireplace has been added to the Floo Network, all you have to do is start a fire inside and toss in a pinch of Floo Powder before calling out the address of wherever you are going or whoever you are calling and either step into the green flames or stick your face into the flames."

"I vaguely recall the goblins mentioning something about a network, an address, and a fee," Ash mused as he scratched the back of his head absently while frowning down at the fireplace. "Don't have a clue what Floo Powder is though or where I could purchase some as I doubt there's any in the house."

"Several stores in Diagon Alley sell Floo Powder," Lucy offered as she looked at the fireplace with resignation; she'd assumed she'd be able to Floo home from the Ketchum's but it looked like she'd either have to take the Knight Bus or make her way to the Leaky Cauldron and Floo from the pub.

"I should have seen that one coming. Guess that means I need to visit Diagon Alley sooner rather than later. You think you'll be alright alone for a couple of hours, Champ?"

"Not going anywhere…" Harry declared as he curled around the throw pillow he'd grabbed when he first sat down and closed his eyes.

"I can keep an eye on him while you're gone, if it will ease your mind."

Ash studied the young woman critically as he considered her offer; it wasn't that he didn't think he could trust her to watch over his son, she'd been doing so for the past nine months after all. No, he was concerned that if he accepted her offer she would end up getting into all kinds of trouble with her parents and that was the last thing he wanted for the kind hearted witch. At the same time he wasn't certain it would be wise to decline her offer given Harry's current state. Sighing, he ran a hand over his face and through his hair as he flicked his eyes from Lucy to Harry and back again.

"How much trouble are you going to be in with your parents if I accept your offer?" Ash inquired after several minutes of silence.

"Very little, if any," Lucy honestly admitted. "My parents are aware of my friendship with Harry and know that he had a… rather difficult year. As I told you earlier, my brother will have told them that I was staying behind to insure that Harry made it home safely. And while they might be a little upset about me being several hours late they will also understand my reasons for staying behind to give you a hand watching over Harry while you run a few errands. Or until your wife gets home."

"I'm not married," Ash offhandedly remarked as he crouched down beside the couch and placed his hand on Harry's forehead and run his fingers through his hair only to frown when Harry batted his hand away.

"No touch…" Harry growled petulantly as he rolled over so he was facing the couch.

"Alright, I'd better go if I plan to be back here any time soon. If I verify that the fireplace has been set up on that network thing you mentioned earlier and purchase some Floo Powder you'll be able to use it to get yourself home safely when I get back?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then I won't have to worry about sending you back out alone when I get back. I shouldn't be gone more than two hours at most; it will mostly depend upon how long it takes me to find a goblin that can answer my questions."

Ash took a few minutes to show Lucy where the kitchen and the nearest bathroom were in case she needed anything before he activated the portkey that would take him to the steps of Gringotts. He tucked the portkey into his pocket as he recovered his balance from the dizzying method of transportation and quickly made his way into the imposing building. Once inside the bank, he took a moment to center himself before he searched out the closest unoccupied teller and marched right up to the goblin.

Forty-five minutes later, Ash exited the bank carrying a large jar of grayish green grit and met a grim faced Healer Pye on the steps. The two men exchanged curt greetings as Ash dug around in his pocket for the reusable portkey that would take him back to his London townhouse. Once he had the correct portkey, he held it out to the healer and waited for the man to grab hold of the brass chain before using the pass code to activate the device.

Two minutes later, the two men reappeared in the middle of Ash and Harry's London garage and Ash led the healer to the lounge where they found Lucy reading from one of her school texts as she sat on the floor propped up against the couch where Harry was laying down. The young teen scrambled to her feet the moment she saw the two men enter the room and moved away from the couch as the healer stepped up to the couch in order to check Harry's current condition. Ash and Lucy both watched the healer cast a series of diagnostic spells for several minutes before Ash turned and thanked her for watching over Harry once again as he passed her the jar of Floo Powder along with a promise to have Harry write her the moment he is feeling better.

An hour after Harry's young friend left, Ash could be found sitting at the kitchen table sharing a pot of tea with Healer Pye as the two of them discussed Harry's condition.

"His symptoms are still consistent with the original diagnosis," Healer Pye explained tiredly. "Disorientation, hyper sensitivity, dizziness, headaches, and memory loss are completely normal side effects one would experience with a concussion as severe as the one young Harry experienced. The good news is that the long day spent traveling didn't acerbate his condition too terribly much. I would recommend keeping him in bed and off his feet as much as possible for at least another week or two to give his brain a chance to heal itself."

"How are concussions normally treated in the magical world?" Ash asked as he propped his elbows on the table and dropped his eyes down to stare into his cup of tea.

"Concussions are normally treated with a series of potions and a couple of spells with the damage being healed within twenty-four to seventy-two hours of diagnosis depending on the level of severity. The number and types of potions offered depend upon which symptoms the patient is experiencing, the severity of the symptoms, the length of time since the patient received the injury, and the age of the patient. The spells used in conjunction with the potions are limited to healing the external damage done by the initial blow to the head; repairing skull fractures, siphoning off excess fluids, reducing swelling, mending cuts, and reducing pain. There are no spells that can treat the brain itself though due to the complexity of the brain which is where the potions come in; as each potion targets a specific region of the brain to suppress the various symptoms which allows the patient's magic to heal the problem naturally while they sleep."

"Potions… Would that I could curse Harry's former guardians for their incompetence," Ash muttered darkly as he leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Just how many health issues are dealt with using potions?"

"Over eighty percent of all injuries, spell damage, illnesses, and other maladies are treated by a plethora of potions," Healer Pye answered. "There are some that are applied externally (such as bruise balms, anti-itching creams, and burn paste) while the rest are ingested or in some rare cases injected into the blood stream."

"Damn. How many potions would be needed to deal with Harry's concussion?"

"At least fifteen different potions with five of them being administered once every six hours over the course of the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours after initial treatment," Healer Pye replied with a sigh. "At least three of them, that I'm aware of, would have sent Harry's blood-sugar levels through the roof; which is why I didn't even consider attempting to administer them."

"Something for which I am eternally grateful," Ash stated with a brief smile. "I take it those three potions are also a crucial part of the treatment?" Healer Pye nodded agreement. "Figures. Are there any magical means of treating Harry's other medical problem?"

"I've been researching methods to cure or contain his body's inability to assimilate processed sugars but so far have not had any success. If it was just a matter of him having one of the two forms of diabetes then I could have cured him with a series of potions in less than a month. Unfortunately, while some of his symptoms are similar to those one would expect to find in a diabetic the rest of them are not. And all of the tests I have done through the year have confirmed that he does not actually have diabetes."

"Which is exactly what baffled Harry's doctors at home," Ash admitted tiredly.

"If I had to hazard a guess," Healer Pye carefully hypothesized. "I would say that the extended periods of hypoglycemia or extremely low blood sugar levels your son suffered through as a child caused his magic to step in at some point in order to correct the problem. That theory is based upon what you and your son have told me regarding the three years he lived with his former guardians and the symptoms he suffers from when sugar is introduced to his system seem to support that hypothesis. I can't say how his magic managed to fix the original problem with any certainty, since there was no one present to document the changes at the time it happened, but there are two possible ways his magic could have reacted to rectify the situation."

"My best guess is that his magic made changes on a cellular level so that his body began producing its own form of sugar or sugar substitute and other nutrients in order to provide his body with the appropriate levels of sugar and vitamins for him to function and survive. The other possibility is that his magic enhanced his body's digestive process in order to squeeze out every last nutrient from his poor diet and turn some portion of what would normally be considered waste into usable sugars. There is a chance that what actually happened was some combination of those two theories since from what I understand there were long stretches of time where your son went without food on top of the poor diet he was provided before you adopted him."

"Magic can do that?" Ash asked incredulously as he stared at the healer with wide eyes.

"Normally I would say no," Healer Pye confessed a bit sheepishly as he shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his tea before continuing. "Magic usually must follow certain laws even if magic itself seems to defy all logic. However, there is a small window during the developmental stages of a witch's or wizard's magic where it is… malleable… for lack of a better word. The period of time that window exists varies from person to person but in all documented cases that window appears at some point before a child reaches their fifth birthday and can last anywhere from a single hour, day, month, or year. While the window is present, a child's magic will be influenced by his or her environment, emotions, and/or health."

"The possible damage that can be done to a child's magic during that window of malleability is one of the reasons child abuse, of any kind, is severely punished in the magical world. There have been known cases of a magical child losing his magic, of the magic turning parasitical and eventually killing the child, and of the child's magic becoming uncontrollable to the point it will randomly strike out at other people. Those three examples are, of course, on the extreme end of the spectrum and not the only possible outcomes."

"Is there any way to find out if a child or even an adult experienced such a change?" Ash asked after taking a few minutes to digest what he'd just learned.

"Usually it is blatantly obvious as the change occurs in an instant and the child's magic reflects the changes from that point forward. So, unless there is someone who knew your son very well before the change occurred or you have in your possession a couple drops of your son's blood from before the change than no, there is no way to test his magic to search for differences which leaves us with nothing more than pure speculation."

"Alright, say you are correct in that Harry's magic made one of those two probable changes; what does that mean for my son in the long run? Is there a way to reverse the changes? If it can't be reversed, is there a way to work around or temporarily block the changes in order to get around his current dietary restrictions? Even if it is just a temporary measure that would allow him to be medically treated with potions in the future should the need arise?"

"Currently there is nothing to treat your son's condition since his condition is rather unique. Further research might someday stumble across either a cure or a way of controlling his condition but that could of course take years. I know your son has already been researching the sugar levels of various healing potions, he has approached me a couple of times with questions about a few specific potions during the second half of the term, before he took his fall after his final exams. His efforts in that department have been phenomenal and the copies he provided me of his notes are what helped me compile a short list of common potions that pose the biggest threat to him due to his condition. I've also started my own research in that regards in an effort to find alternative ingredients to those common potions in an effort to reduce the sugar levels or alternative potions that would perform the same basic healing functions as those. It will take time before any results can be expected though and unfortunately my time is limited since I'm in the process of finishing Mediwizard Training, working part time at Hogwarts, and completing my internship at St. Mungo's at the same time."

"I am well aware of Harry's on-going research in potions," Ash stated. "Being non-magical myself, I'm limited in how much I can help him. Sure, I can read up on the various potions and their ingredients and I can organize and analyze any data collected as well as locate patterns, trends, and anomalies in the information but I can't make the actual potions. I might be able to test said potions in order to determine their sugar content but it would take me a while to figure out what I'm doing unless given explicit directions. And from what I understand purchasing ready made potions can be expensive and in some cases damn near impossible because some potions degrade rather quickly once they are made which could potentially throw the results of the tests off."

"You are a researcher? What muggles would call a scientist?"

"Ah… sort of but not exactly; I started researching the rise and decline of wild… animal populations in both populated and unpopulated areas under the tutelage of an old friend shortly after adopting my son. My expertise lies in collecting and compiling data, installing, maintaining, and repairing various types of research equipment, and settling any disputes that crop up between the numerous experts and scientists that I worked alongside. I've also provided emergency first aide to more injured animals than I could count. Harry, on the other hand, has taken more than a couple of advanced classes that taught him how to do research and conduct experiments."

The conversation wound down shortly after that and Healer Pye checked on Harry once last time before taking his leave after making arrangements to return in seven days to check on Harry's progress. Ash walked him out to the garage to the designated apparation point that the goblins had set up when they placed several wards around the property to prevent witches and wizards from randomly entering the house without permission. Once the healer had vanished with a soft crack, Ash returned to the lounge where he found Harry dozing lightly on the couch with Dilemma and Frost curled up near his feet while Spy Cat sat on the arm of the couch staring down at Harry intently.

Ash felt a sudden urge to call Professor Oak to ask him if Pokémon healing moves could be effective in treating humans. A split second later Ash felt the familiar flash of pain as the memory of Professor Oak's death made itself known once more. The added knowledge that he had no way of contacting any one from their home world hit him hard at that moment and he sat down abruptly as he felt a powerful wave of homesickness wash through him. Usually, he was able to keep the despair of leaving his world behind well buried because he was focused entirely on being strong for Harry; whom he knew hated it here in this world.

"Pika?"

"Hey, Pikachu," Ash murmured as he wiped the tears from his face and reached down to pick up the concerned Pokémon that had been hiding while the healer had been in the house. "I'm okay, just missing everyone."

As Ash cuddled and reassured Pikachu that he would be just fine, Spy Cat reached out and tapped Harry's forehead with one paw as it called out to its siblings. Pikachu twisted around and chittered at the three younger Pokémon for a minute before he settled calmly back into Ash's lap with his ears and eyes focused intently on the scene that was taking place on the couch. Ash leaned forward as well as he wondered what the umbreon was planning to do. He got his answer just a few minutes later when Dilemma and Frost both used Helping Hand to lend part of their strength to Spy Cat as the black cat-like Pokémon used Moonlight.

The gold circle on the umbreon's head began glowing brightly as the room darkened and pale moonbeams shimmered into existence just above Harry's head while thousands of stars began appearing in the air above the couch. The stars seemed to dance and swirl as they lazily drifted down to the couch where they sank beneath Harry's skin the moment they brushed against him. When the moonlight faded and no more stars fell, Spy Cat used the move a second time. This time when the effects of the healing move ended, Spy Cat slumped slightly and let out a long yawn before he curled up on the arm of the couch and went to sleep.

"Well I'll be," Ash murmured. "I think you just proved my theory about who it was that healed Harry after he'd been injured by that troll and answered my earlier question on whether or not healing moves could be used to heal people. Only question now is how effective Moonlight will have been in treating Harry's concussion. If Harry's condition even just a little bit improved when he wakes up tomorrow I'm going to buy the three of you a month's worth of smoked salmon."

Frost and Dilemma turned to look at Ash smugly at that declaration while Spy Cat simply flicked his ears in Ash's direction to indicate he'd heard the promise as well. Ash had the sneaking suspicion he'd be buying the promised fish sometime in the next couple of days if he read the satisfied smirks on the two females' faces. The thought actually lifted Ash's spirits because it ultimately meant his son would be up and moving around fairly soon. Happy over the latest turn of events, Ash climbed to his feet and headed upstairs to grab a few pillows and a couple of blankets so he could spend the night comfortably down in the lounge to keep an eye on Harry during the night instead of trying to get his son upstairs to his room.

As he bedded down on the floor beside the couch, Ash couldn't help but recall the number of times he'd slept in a similar position through the first year Harry had lived with him and his mother.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes:<strong> _Here's an updated listed of Harry's Pokémon. I had meant to include it the first time I posted this chapter but it slipped my mind at the last moment. The only real changes were the last two eevee finally earned their names and the last male eevee evolved. _

No. Name (Nickname) – (1st evolution) current evolution, gender, approx. age (years bonded)

01 Trickster – (vulpix) ninetales, male, 11 ¾ (11 ½)  
>02 Dancer – (ponyta) ponyta, female, 11 (11)<br>03 Splash – (dratini) dratini, male, 10 ½ (10 ½)  
>04 Dave – (delibird) delibird, male, unknown* (9 ¼)<br>05 Unnamed – (trapinch) trapinch, male, unknown* (8 ¾)  
>06 Jester – (eevee) flareon, male, 6 (6)<br>07 Mohawk (Moe) – (eevee) leafeon, male, 6 (6)  
>08 Frost – (eevee) glaceon, female, 6 (6)<br>09 Spark – (eevee) jolteon, male, 6 (6)  
>10 Riptide – (eevee) vaporeon, male, 6 (6)<br>11 Dilemma (Dilly/Emma) – (eevee) eevee, female, 6 (6)  
>12 Spy Cat – (eevee) umbreon, male, 6 (6)<br>13 Unnamed – (N/A) unown, no gender, unknown* (N/A) _Stowaway_

* The delibird was probably fairly young, possibly less than 1 yr and at most 2, when they first encountered it on the Ice Path; hence one of the reasons it was willing to tag alone. The trapinch would have at least been 5 yrs but could have been as old as 20 when they pulled him out from the rock fall (which makes him the oldest of all Harry's bonded Pokémon); I figure that the dragon species are fairly long lived give how high their levels are before they reach their final evolutionary stage. The stowaway unown, on the other hand, I see as being centuries old though exactly how many I couldn't saw.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Wow, this one was a long time in coming and for that, I apologize. Editing and revising this chapter the first time was a complete pain that was only made worse when I lost the entire thing. I had the original chapter but going back and re-editing was even more of a pain the second time around. _

_I'm still not happy with the way it turned out but I couldn't just cut it because it relays important information about Harry's medical condition (and yes, Healer Pye's theories were spot on). There was more I wanted to get in this chapter about what is going on in Dumbledore's mind but that was the biggest thing I lost when I lost the chapter and what I had the hardest time reconstructing. _

_Oh, and I know I've replied to a few reviews regarding why Ash doesn't seem to remember that Pokemon Moves can affect humans (outside of the attack effects both in and out of battle) but my reason for him not remembering that healing moves can be used on humans has to do with his memories being taken by some of the Legendary Pokemon (such as Mewtwo taking his memories after Mew and Mewtwo's battle during the first movie or in other cases where he came into direct contact with one of the Legendary Pokemon). So, that is why he doesn't remember and why he seems so clueless at times in regards to certain things that Pokemon can do (not counting his natural cluelessness that he has been plagued with all of his life. ~ Jenn_

**02-12-13:**_ This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline._


	23. A Wizard on the Warpath

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This story has just been edited and updated and it is now self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 23: A Wizard on the Warpath<span>_

_Saturday Morning, August 24, 1991  
>Black Manor, Parkhurst Forest<br>Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight_

Ninety year old Arcturus Black strode into his study with the expectation that his day would proceed much as the preceding days had proceeded; uneventful and filled with the endless monotony of managing the Black Estate. He had just seated himself at his desk when an elegant greater sooty owl glided into the room through the charmed window and landed on the owl perch that sat next to his desk; a letter bearing the Gringotts seal tied to its leg. The elderly wizard scowled at both bird and letter as he racked his brain for a legitimate reason as to why the goblin run wizarding bank would be writing to him, of all wizards, at this time of year.

The owl hooted plaintively as he stuck its letter bearing leg out to the wizard; a clear sign that the bird was in no mood to be delayed by the venerable Lord Black. The old man snorted inelegantly as he obediently removed the letter from the bird's leg and snapped his fingers to call for a house elf to tend the bird. He debated on whether or not he should deal with the unexpected correspondence first or if he should leave it until after he'd dealt with the rest of his paperwork. He ended up deciding to see what Gringotts wished of him since the goblins were well known for their dislike of dealing with wizards in general and purebloods in particular.

It was a decision that would ultimately both complicate and save his life.

Arcturus broke the seal on the scroll and watched the wax begin to hiss and steam as it melted into an indistinguishable blob before vanishing in a puff of acrid smoke; proving that the letter was at least genuine. Leaning back in his chair, Arcturus unfurled the letter and angled it towards the light as he read through the short goblin sent missive.

_Greetings Lord Black,_

_We are writing to inform you that your designated heir has made an appearance  
>at this institution as per your request. <em>

_Sincerely,_

_Gringotts Bank  
>Inheritance and Vault Management Division<em>

Arcturus lowered the letter and glanced towards the tapestry that hung on the northern wall of his study, his eyes zeroing in on the blurry portrait that was linked to the woven portraits of James and Lily Potter beneath his cousin Dorea's portrait. His eyes then cut to the left where his only surviving grandson's portrait sat and his mouth thinned as he recalled how the wretched brat had discarded his advice and fallen under the thrall of Dumbledore. If not for Sirius's foolish defiance against his mother, then the boy would not be rotting away in Azkaban right that moment. Of course, Regulus had made an even bigger mistake as his youngest grandson had chosen to follow the Dark Lord and ended up dead for his troubles.

Sighing, the old wizard let his eyes drift back to the unviewable portrait of the child he'd chosen as his heir the day his oldest grandson was thrown into Azkaban. He'd met the child twice before they'd gone into hiding to protect the boy from the Dark Lord's minions but for the life of him, he could neither remember what the child looked like nor what the child had been named. He knew his heir was a Potter but that was only because his father and grandfather had been Potters. He also knew that Dumbledore was ultimately responsible for the state of his memories; the manipulative old wizard having squirreled the Potter child away before the bodies of his parents had even finished cooling.

Arcturus would have gone before the Wizengamot to fight for custody of the child but doing so would have reminded the older wizard of his connection to the Potter Family and that was the last thing he wanted to do. It was far better that the world forgot that the Blacks had married into the Potter Family least the corrupted Headmaster and Chief Warlock use that connection to harm the Potter child or use the child to take control of the Black Fortune. Bad enough he had to constantly fight Lucius Malfoy on the matter of succession within the house; the Malfoy upstart daring to insist that his weak willed and spoiled son should be named as Arcturus's heir. He'd sooner name his house elf his heir than turn the vast coffers of the Black Family over to the likes of Malfoy or Dumbledore.

That brought him back to the matter of his current heir; the missing Potter child. He glanced back down at the letter in his hand; a letter that told him that his young cousin and heir had reached his eleventh birthday and had reentered the wizarding world after having vanished ten years earlier. Oh, the goblins hadn't said quite that much but that was what the rather cryptic note they'd sent had meant. The only question was; what was he going to do about it? Did he make an attempt to contact the child? Did he wait until the child reached his seventeenth birthday? Or did he approach the goblins for more information on the child that would one day take his place as Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?

Pushing out of his chair, Arcturus made his way over to stand beside the tapestry as he tried to consider the matter from every angle, like a proper Slytherin, and let his eyes wander over the numerous portraits that covered the woven artifact. His eyes eventually ended up back on his missing heir and he gave a small start the moment he realized that the silver threads below the child's portrait had been altered by the family magic that allowed the tapestry to update itself automatically for each and every birth, marriage, and death. His heir was no longer nameless.

Written beneath the still blurry portrait, in a confusing jumble of tangled letters, were two names; Harry James Potter and Harry Ketchum.

The moment the elderly wizard read the name of his missing heir, the memories that had been masked from him a decade earlier (through the magic of a trio of Fidelius Charms) rushed back into his mind and his eyes widened as the knowledge that his grandson was the godfather of his heir slammed into his mind. White hot rage filled the wizard in that instant for he knew then that his grandson was innocent of the crimes for which he'd been imprisoned. Sirius could not have betrayed the Potters even if he wanted to because, as the child's godfather, he was oath bound to protect the child _and_ the child's parents from all harm. Someone set his grandson up to take the fall.

Arcturus stormed out of his study in order to set about making plans to obtain custody of his young heir and the release of his grandson. Knowing he'd be facing off against the likes of Dumbledore and Malfoy, the wily old Lord Black knew he'd have to use every ounce of his Slytherin cunning or he'd end up dead and buried with the family fortune in the hands of those who'd destroy the world. That meant that it would take time, precious time, to plan his opening move least he tip his hand prematurely and alert others to what he was doing.

Sitting unopened on the desk at the bottom of the other correspondence that he'd ignored in the wake of opening the letter from Gringotts, was a letter containing a vaporized contagion that would have infected Arcturus with Dragon Pox the moment he'd opened it; a disease that would have killed him within thirty days due to his advanced age. Said letter wouldn't be discovered until months later when the charms holding the foul, black vapor inside of the envelope degraded enough to allow the vaporized contagion to seep out from the cracks.

* * *

><p><em>Thursday Evening, December 31, 1991<br>Black Manor, Parkhurst Forest  
>Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight<em>

Arcturus strode into his study and flicked his eyes towards the Family Tree hanging on the wall before he scowled and headed to his desk to sort through the growing pile of missives that he had been ignoring for the past several months while he diligently plotted and planned to free his grandson and gain custody of his heir. He had just sat down and was reaching for the envelope on the top of the stack when a screech owl soared into the room carrying a bright red scroll wrapped with a black ribbon. He recognized the medallion strung about the owl's neck on a red ribbon as a miniature copy of an auror's badge; signifying that the bird had come from the Ministry; specifically from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Arcturus narrowed his eyes and twisted in his seat as he watched the owl gracefully glide to the perch situated right beside his desk.

There was only one thing he had been expecting to receive from the DMLE and it had taken him three months to cautiously wade through a series of potential political traps in order to even _think_ about requesting a copy of those files; if that was indeed what the owl was carrying. A request he'd sent in a month earlier. The ninety year old wizard reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small fur wrapped bundle (an elf-made owl treat that consisted of ground meats, digestive herbs, and dietary supplements that had been sheathed in the fur of a rabbit and magically preserved) and offered the treat to the owl in exchange for the scroll it carried.

He was just reaching for a piece of parchment in order to write out a polite thank you note (as was proper) when he noticed a familiar and much feared black smoke-like substance seeping out of one of the long ignored letters stacked on his desk. His eyes widened in alarm at the sight before they narrowed in anger as he brought his wand to bear and encased the entire stack of mail in a protective bubble. Arcturus's hands were shaking with fear and anger as he lowered his wand; someone had tried to kill him in his own home. Someone had dared to attack the Lord of House Black with a poisoned letter bomb; a tactic that had been used by Grindelwald at the height of his campaign during the thirties and forties.

It was a tactic that Voldemort had adopted and used far more effectively during the sixties and seventies to wipe out his political opposition.

Not wasting another minute, Arcturus grabbed a sheet of parchment and penned a latter to Amelia Bones, the Head of the DMLE, to request an urgent audience with the stately witch before he called a house elf to deliver the request directly to Amelia's hands in order to discuss the matter (he didn't trust Scrimgeour enough to seek an audience with the Head Auror). He then wrote out the short thank you that custom dictated he send in response to having his request (finally) filled and sent it off with the screech owl.

In order to occupy his mind while he waited to hear back from Madam Bones, Arcturus opened the scroll he'd been sent to find a distressingly thin file that should have contained the list of evidence convicting his grandson, the Auror and Obliviator reports from the day his grandson had been arrested, and the transcripts from Sirius's trial. There was a distressing lack of evidence, the reports were incomplete and lacked the necessary details, and it was short one trial transcript. Here was further proof that his grandson had been set up and then locked away without even a token trial; all on the words of Albus Dumbledore, Bartemius Crouch, Auror Rufus Scrimgeour, and Obliviator Cornelius Fudge.

Agitated, Arcturus climbed to his feet and began pacing back and forth as his mind bounced between the assassination attempt on his life and the blatant miscarriage of justice that saw his grandson wrongfully imprisoned. After a few minutes, he stopped beside the tapestry on the wall and let his eyes to search out his grandson's portrait on the Family Tree. Through the years he'd felt pride, exasperation, fondness, and disappointment in his oldest grandson; the boy had reminded Arcturus of himself and he had therefore demanded more of the child than he had of Regulus. Those demands had been part of what had driven Sirius to rebel against his family.

Oh, how Arcturus had been disappointed when he'd learned that the boy had been sorted into Gryffindor upon starting Hogwarts. Hearing that Sirius had made friends with a Potter had filled him with mixed feelings; he was happy because the Potters were a powerful family (even if they were die-hard Gryffindors) but at the same time greatly concerned because of the influence that Dumbledore had over the once flourishing family at the time. James Potter was family though (even if the connection was rather diluted) and that alone allowed Arcturus to ignore Walburga's demands that he disown Sirius for his transgressions against the House of Black (which at the time had been nothing more than being sorted in Gryffindor and associating with the wrong kind of families).

The antics his grandson had gotten up to during his seven years at Hogwarts had both amused and annoyed the Black Patriarch and sent the boy's mother into more than one conniption fit. Poor Regulus had been caught in the middle of the family arguments and Arcturus's youngest grandson had gotten himself tangled up in a bad crowd as a result. As disappointed as Arcturus had been over some of the things Sirius had gotten up to over the years, he'd been absolutely disgusted when he'd learned from Orion that Regulus had fallen in with the Death Eater crowd, sold his soul to the Dark Lord, and allowed himself to be branded like an animal. Blacks bowed to no one and there was his youngest grandson groveling at the feet of a mad man with questionable blood heritage.

A sneer curled his lip as he recalled learning about Regulus's death less than a year after the boy had finished Hogwarts. Walburga had blamed the boy's death on Sirius while Arcturus blamed Voldemort since his grandson had died while in the Dark Lord's service. Arcturus had met with Sirius just two months after his brother's death to find out if Dumbledore had been responsible or not but his oldest grandson hadn't even known his brother had died. Orion had died shortly after his son (under highly questionable circumstances) and Walburga went mad with grief before she finally died in nineteen-eighty-five.

Arcturus had kept in close contact with Sirius for the two years following Regulus's death before his grandson had been arrested and thrown into Azkaban without a proper trial. If not for the spell that had been cast at some point between the death of James and Lily and Sirius's arrest to hide his heir and seal his memories from him (a fact that still irritated the ninety year old wizard), Arcturus would have demanded that his grandson be released and given a trial the moment he'd seen the article in the paper on the second of November in nineteen-eighty-one. As it was, that spell had tampered with Arcturus's memories of the young Potter's naming ceremony where Sirius had taken his oath to protect his godson and his godson's parents.

Arcturus had nearly disowned his last living grandson in disgust over the false belief that he'd sold himself to Voldemort like his brother before him as a result of those blocked memories.

Pulling his eyes from Sirius's tapestry portrait, Arcturus let his eyes cut sideways to the portrait of his heir and wondered again what he should do about the child. He'd seen the articles that the Daily Prophet had written in regards to the events that had taken place at the castle on Halloween night and the only reason he'd not stormed the castle was because Harry Potter's name had not been involved. The name Ketchum had been mentioned but Arcturus had dismissed it as irrelevant despite the fact that the name Ketchum was currently tied to young Harry's name on the tapestry.

Before he could give the matter much thought, one of his house elves appeared at his elbow to inform him that Madam Bones had arrived as requested and that she was currently waiting for him in the front parlor. Arcturus promptly ordered the elf to escort the witch to his office before he called forth a different elf to prepare a pot of tea and refreshments for the upcoming meeting. The aged wizard's emotions had been brought back under his control by the time Amelia Bones had been shown into his office ten minutes later.

"Welcome to Black Manor, Madam Bones," Arcturus intoned as he gave the woman a short bow. "I do apologize for disturbing your evening but the matters I wish to discuss with you are rather urgent and I felt it unwise to delay meeting with you. I'd also like to thank you for seeing me on such short notice despite the lack of clarification in the letter I sent you."

"What is this about, Lord Black? In your missive you stated that you required my help in my capacity as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but at the same time ordered me to not involve the Auror Department until after we'd met. I smell something rotten and I've enough trouble on my plate right now after the Halloween Fiasco up at Hogwarts and the discontented werewolves that are less than pleased with the new legislation that Umbridge is trying to get pushed through."

"There are three things I wished to discuss with you," Arcturus replied as he gestured for the stately witch to take a seat as his elf popped in with the requested refreshments. "First, I wish to report an assassination attempt on my life through the use of a letter bomb; I do not know when it arrived but the spells binding the contaminant degraded just a short while ago and it was only sheer happenstance that I noticed the black substance leaking from the letter."

"You have proof?" Amelia demanded sharply as the color drained from her face.

"I sealed it with a spell the moment I recognized the insidious contaminant," Arcturus grimly confirmed as he waved a hand towards the bubble still encasing the pile of mail off to one side of his desk. "If that weren't enough of an issue, I recently learned that my only surviving grandson was thrown into Azkaban without a proper trial."

"What does Sirius Black have to do with someone attempting to kill you using the same methods that You-Know-Who used during the war?"

"Did you know that up until my grandson was arrested and thrown into prison that he'd been my heir? He would have been named Lord Black upon my death. Since the day Sirius was arrested, Lucius Malfoy has been hounding me to name his son as my heir in Sirius's place; Malfoy wrongly assuming that Sirius's imprisonment left me bereft of an heir to take up the mantle of Lordship should I die."

"That still doesn't tell me why you think the assassination attempt was in any way related to Sirius's imprisonment; unless you still have him listed as your heir?"

"No, I named another my heir upon learning of Sirius's arrest; thinking, like most of the world, that my grandson was guilty of that which he'd been accused of. The problem though, is that my grandson never received a trial because a trial would have proven him innocent of the charges which were filed against him."

"What!? Do you have any proof?"

"It took four months for me to get a copy of Sirius's files from your office," Arcturus revealed as he pulled the file off his desk and passed it to Amelia. "As you can see, there is a disturbing lack of evidence in his file, there are blatant breaches in protocol in regards to my grandson's arrest, the reports are disturbingly incomplete, and there are no trial transcripts."

"Why now? Why didn't you bring this to my attention ten years ago?" Amelia inquired with a frown as she quickly leafed through the incomplete file.

"Until the end of August I had no idea that my grandson was innocent. It was at that time that I received a missive from Gringotts informing me that my heir had finally visited the bank in preparation for his first year at Hogwarts. That same day, I managed to break a spell that had been suppressing several important memories that would have given me enough evidence to have my grandson released and retried. I only recently discovered that my grandson never received a trial in the first place."

"What evidence?"

"Did you know that Sirius was Harry Potter's oath bound godfather?"

"That's not possible… if he was the sworn godfather of the Potter's son, then there is no way that he could have betrayed the Potters to You-Know-Who; for him to have done so would have been in direct violation of his oaths and his magic would have killed him instantly."

"Precisely."

"You have proof?"

"I was one of the witnesses to the child's naming ceremony," Arcturus stated before he scowled. "My memory of that day had been obscured along with the name of the child right up until I received the missive from the goblins this summer. I'd long known that the Potter child was my heir; he's distantly related to me through his paternal grandmother who was the daughter of my Uncle Cygnus. The only reason I knew that much was because of the self-updating magic of the Black Family Tree; otherwise I wouldn't have even known that the child's last name was Potter. Even then, the ancient magic was corrupted as I had been unable to see the child's name or portrait until after I received the missive from Gringotts."

"Fidelius Charm," Amelia breathed with a start. "It's the only spell powerful enough to interfere with the older magics."

"I reached the same conclusion after doing extensive research."

"You said you had three things you wished to discuss with me; what else is there aside from the assassination attempt and the wrongful imprisonment of your grandson?"

"I wish to obtain guardianship and custody of my heir, Harry Potter; who has no living relatives outside of the Black Family that I am aware of since neither James nor Lily had any siblings."

* * *

><p><em>Tuesday Morning, June 30, 1992<br>Black Manor, Parkhurst Forest  
>Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight<em>

Arcturus let out a string of invectives as he threw the missive from Amelia down onto his desk. He'd been working diligently with the witch in order to have his grandson pulled from Azkaban and given a trial and the reckless fool had just gone and done the worst possible thing imaginable; he'd broken out of prison. The old wizard cursed again his grandson's Gryffindorish impetuousness as the boy's escape had just ruined close to six months worth of work. Worse yet was the fact that Sirius's escape would impede his chances of gaining custody of his heir due to the scrutiny that would be placed upon the Black Family as a whole because of the boy's actions.

That was on top of the troubling revelation that the boy who was supposed to follow in his footsteps had done extremely poorly over his first year at Hogwarts. If the child didn't perform better during the course of his second year, then Malfoy could easily override Arcturus's decision to name the Potter child as his heir by claiming the boy was unfit to manage the vast estates. Arcturus just knew that Dumbledore was ultimately to blame; though he didn't know exactly what the man had done to sabotage the Potter child.

Irritated and more than a little worried over how quickly things were spiraling out of his control, Arcturus leaned back and drummed his fingers on the desk as he considered his options. After several minutes, he came to the conclusion that he was going to have to publicly fight for custody of his heir. Arcturus scowled as he well knew that such an action would likely spell his death but he hardly thought that mattered now considering the fact that there had been no less than ten attempted assassinations upon his life over the course of the year (multiple letter bombs had been found in the sealed stack of missives that Madam Bones had collected, a few more bombs having been delivered after the first of the year, and there had been two attempts by well-known bounty hunters to breach his wards).

He didn't have much of a choice though; not if he wanted to keep the estate out of Malfoy's hands.

Arcturus also considered contacting Andromeda in the hopes that he could mend bridges with the woman and groom her to take guardianship of his heir in the event that his unseen attacker managed to assassinate him at some point down the line. His cousin Callidora (who'd married into the Longbottom Family) was still alive as well and he knew the Longbottom heir was the same age as Harry. Cousin Cassiopeia was still alive as well, though as a single witch she'd most likely not be considered a suitable guardian; she could easily stand in as regent for the family if needed though.

The only other Blacks still alive (aside from his grandson) were Lucretia, Cedrella, Bellatrix, and Narcissa; all four of whom were either tied up in Dumbledore's crowd (Lucretia had married into the Prewitt family and Cedrella had married into the Weasley Family and the Prewitts and Weasleys were both firmly in Dumbledore's back pocket) or associated with the Dark Lord's minions (Bellatrix and Narcissa). He'd have to insure that those four individuals were blocked from obtaining guardianship of young Harry unless they gave their solemn oath that they would not harm the child or give him to one of those that sought to harm him. Even then he'd prefer not to leave his heir's fate in the hands of those that stood to gain from the child's death.

Sighing, Arcturus reached for a roll of parchment as he began mentally composing the letters he would send to the three potential members of his family that he felt he could trust.

* * *

><p><strong>*** THE END ***<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Finally finished… All twenty-two original chapters of this story have been updated and re-uploaded now. I would have had this chapter up sooner but the chapter was hard to finish simply because most of the events took place earlier in the year and I had to dig out all of my old notes to cross-check everything and make certain I kept everything flowing along the proper timeline for this chapter to match what I have written for Year 2. _

_I would have gone back and put the different sections into the story at the appropriate times but going back to put them in where they belonged messed up my chapters and would have meant forcing all of my readers to go back and re-read everything and that is something I find annoying and so I'd prefer not to annoy my readers in turn and so that's why I stuck them here as a new chapter instead. _

_Anyway… that's this plot hole filled and smoothed over with a teaser on what you can expect to happen in year two. I'll be throwing up the omake with Spy Cat's naming day (in a new chapter) and the missing moment dealing with Hermione's stolen memory as soon as I post the first chapter of Year 2; which will hopefully be within a week (possibly two) of this chapter's posting. ~ Jenn_


	24. Omake 1: A Glitch in the Door

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**AN:** _This omake has been self-beta'd; so there may still be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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><p><span>Omake 1: A Glitch in the Door<span>

_Thursday Morning, July 31, 2014  
>Ketchum Cottage, Viridian City<br>Kanto Region_

At the Ketchum residence, in Viridian City, the newly formed doors weren't noticed until just after breakfast, at about eight in the morning, when Harry approached them to do his customary inspection. He was just reaching up to run his hands over the painted doors when he noticed the handles were sticking out away from the door and were made from silver instead of simply painted to look like silver. The second thing he noticed was the bloody hand print that connected the two doors in the center where they met.

"Dad!"

Ash looked up when he heard his son call him, and immediately saw what had Harry so riled. The previously realistic painting of double doors was now an actual set of double doors leading to some distant unknown world that had treated his son cruelly. Anger, worry, and resignation filled Ash as he ordered Harry to start getting ready to leave. Harry looked for a moment like he wanted to rebel against the order, he was practically an adult now as today was his seventeenth birthday, but after a few tense seconds he reluctantly complied and began checking the straps on the cart's harness. Once he was certain the gear was in working order, he went out into the back yard and called Dancer in, so he could buckle the strong fire horse into the harness.

While Harry was harnessing Dancer to the cart, Ash packed all the last-minute items into their packs and carried them into the living room, where he set them down next to the magical doors. He then grabbed the riding blanket Harry had made for Dancer's back and settled it into place, after giving the mare an affectionate pat on the neck. Ash subsequently double checked the pokéballs of the Pokémon he'd decided to take with him through the gate to make sure they were all in order. The long time Pokémon trainer had considered bringing more of his Pokémon friends with him but since he wasn't certain what they would find on the other side he'd decided it was best to only bring a select few. Those Pokémon he wouldn't be taking with him were left in the capable hands of Brock with the exception of the few of the more sensitive ones he'd left to watch over his mother.

By this time, an hour had passed since Harry discovered the activated doors. The smaller Pokémon that would be going, such as Dave, the two remaining eevee, and the trapinch were carefully lifted up into the back of the cart where they made themselves comfortable. Splash, Riptide, and Frost also joined those Pokémon in the cart, while Spark, Trickster, Moe, and Jester would be walking alongside it. Pikachu would, of course, be riding on Ash's shoulder as usual, as Ash intended to lead the way through the doors. Harry, on the other hand, had been told he would be riding Dancer as they traveled through the gateway – this would insure that Harry would remain with the majority of his Pokémon and their belongings in the event that those walking were separated from the cart.

It was another hour before everyone was ready to go. Ash had shouldered his backpack and settled Harry's pack into the cart so it wouldn't interfere with Dancer's movement through the gate. Harry was wearing his daypack though, which carried all of the important documents they might need once they made it through to the other side. Ash was just hanging up the phone; he'd called home to his mother to let her know it was time for them to go. Harry had been too distraught to say goodbye again, for he and Delia had exchanged an emotional farewell just a few days earlier. The only thing left to do was to actually go through the doors.

Resigned to his fate, Harry gave his father a tight hug, opened the doors as wide as they would go, and gaped in shock as he stared at the blank stretch of wall he found behind the door. After a moment, he pulled himself together and reached forward to run his hand over the wall to find that it was as solid as it looked. Ash walked over a moment later and rapped his knuckles on the wall and both of them canted their heads to one side as it sounded more like he'd knocked on a large aquarium tank instead of a wall.

"Why don't you close the door and try again?" Ash suggested after another minute when nothing had changed.

"Okay," Harry agreed in a partially dazed voice as he closed the doors and waited for a full minute to pass before he opened them a second time.

This time, an inky stretch of pure black appeared and Harry frowned as he swept his hand through the darkness and sighed as his hand passed through the blackness with seeming ease. It wasn't the expected water-like curtain that had covered the first door he'd drawn but Harry supposed that he really shouldn't be surprised since Hypno had said the more life-like the door was drawn the easier the path would be. Sighing a second time, Harry made his way over to Dancer and took a moment to scramble up onto her back before he nodded to his father that he was ready.

Ash gave his son an encouraging smile as he stepped beside the fire pony to pat the seventeen year old's leg. He then hitched up the pack he wore on his back as Pikachu scrambled up into place on his shoulder. The older man then walked forward confidently to step into the inky darkness… and ran into a solid wall instead.

"Ow!" Ash exclaimed as he reached up to clutch his now throbbing nose.

"Are you alright, dad?" Harry asked in concern as he dropped down off of Dancer's back and hurried forward.

"Yeah, I'm fine… I just hadn't expected to walk face first into a solid wall."

"I don't understand. It wasn't solid when I first opened it; you saw me stick my hand through the blackness," Harry muttered as he ran his hands over the still solid blackness.

He then closed one of the doors and studied it with a critical eye; part of him wondering if he'd drawn it wrong. The second door was inspected next and when neither door proved to be defective in any way, Harry closed them both and counted to sixty under his breath before he opened them a third time. He felt the tenseness leave his shoulders when he saw the familiar curtain of blue hovering between the doors.

"Third time really is the charm," Harry muttered as he turned his back on the door and walked back towards Dancer.

An ominous creaking filled the room at that moment and Harry slowly glanced back over his shoulder to stare at the sheet of water filling the doorway. The creaking grew louder and the nervous teen turned back around to face the door completely before he shared a confused and worried glance with his father. Ash frowned as he sidled up to the open door and reached out a hand as if to touch the shimmering curtain of liquid.

"I really don't think you should…" Harry protested when he saw what his father was going to do.

The warning came too late though and the second Ash's hand came into contact with the watery-wall the surface tension broke and a tidal wave of water crashed into the Ketchums' living room. It would take the two of them two hours to gather up all of the Pokémon that had been washed away with the water and to pick up all of their scattered belongings. They also wrung out their clothes as best they could (not bothering to change since their spare clothes were just as wet) as they tried to figure out whether or not they should try again.

"You ready to give it another try, sport?" Ash inquired as they once again stood before the closed doors.

"No," Harry replied even as he tentatively reached out to open the door for the fourth time.

Just before he opened the doors, the doors swung open of their own accord and three teenagers (one of which had a cat perched on one shoulder and some kind of bird perched on the other one) and an old man walked into their living room. The first teen one was a girl with bushy hair, the second one was a chubby boy with a round face, and the third one was nearly a carbon copy of Harry; if Harry's growth had not been stunted due to being tied to his original world (though he was still a touch on the short side). The man on the other hand had mismatched eyes and gravity defying gray hair. Harry threw his father a disgruntled look as he had no clue how to deal with the latest curve the doors had just thrown him.

"… and mum said that she and dad would meet us at your house on the fifteenth," the bushy haired teen stated to the boy that looked very much like Harry before she turned her face forward and her gaze landed on Harry. "Um… Hatake-sensei, where are we? And why does that boy look like a much younger Ryuu?"

"The better question would be who you are and what you are doing in our living room," Ash pointed out as he shook off his shock of seeing four perfect strangers walking into their living room.

"What kind of animals are those?" the round faced teen inquired as his gaze went immediately to the Pokémon.

"It would appear that we exited through the wrong portal," the gray-haired man stated as his eyes swept through the entire room before landing on Harry. "You weren't fiddling with your time turner again, were you, Ryuu-kun?"

"I turned in my time turner yesterday, oji," the boy that looked like an older Harry dryly pointed out as he studied Harry intently while he scratched the chin of the cat sitting on his shoulder. "I really wish you'd quit blaming all of the weird things that happen on me."

Before anything more could be said, another group of seven individuals strode through the open portal doors. The first one looked like a younger version of the man from the first group with flyaway gray hair except that he covered one of his eyes and wore a face mask hiding the bottom half of his face. The next man had a bandana tied over his head with straight brown hair poking out the bottom and half hiding his face while the man beside him had spiky black hair, some kind of bandage wrapped over his nose, and a headband around his head.

Just behind those three men was either an extremely short man or a young boy with wild black hair held out of his face with a dark red bandana wearing dark rectangular sunglasses. This individual's features were further obscured by a blood red jacket with a wide collar that hid his lower face and hung down to his knees. The last three people in that group couldn't have been more than ten years old; a girl with pale lavender eyes and long dark hair, a dark haired boy that was dressed almost identically to the man in red (only he was wearing a gray jacket), and a boy with deep blue eyes, sunshine yellow hair, and six whisker marks on his cheeks.

"Satoshi, were you messing around with transportation seals again?" the younger version of the gray haired man asked in an exasperated tone as he slowed to a stop and discreetly palmed a strange looking black knife.

"Why do you always blame me when something goes wrong, Kakashi-nii?" the man in red demanded in a whisper soft monotone as he pushed his way to the front of the group. "Hermione-chan…? How did you get here? Do you know what is going on?"

"How do you know my name?" the bushy haired teen demanded in a nervous tone. "I've never seen you before in my life."

"What do you want with my girlfriend?" the round-faced teen demanded as he stepped in front of newly named Hermione.

"What are you talking about, Neville-kun? You've been dating Susan Bones for the last three years," Satoshi countered in that same soft emotionless voice.

"Toshi-nii; why do the other two boys in the room look like you without your glasses and jacket?" the blonde kid asked as he tugged on Satoshi's red jacket to get the man's attention.

It was at that point that a large mechanical winged wolf looped into the crowded living room followed by yet another young teen that looked a lot like Harry (bar the mismatched eyes, red tinged hair, and _wings_). Right behind the winged kid were five older boys; one with long brown hair tied up in a braid and sharp blue eyes, another with blonde hair and kind blue eyes, the next with brown hair that half covered his face and calculating green eyes, yet another one with shoulder length black hair pulled back in a pony tail and intelligent dark eyes, and the last one with messy black hair and cold blue eyes. The wolf thing growled a heartbeat later and the winged boy pulled out a stick while the other five boys pulled out hand guns in response to the machine thing's growl.

"Now what have you done, Taliesin?" the one with cold blue eyes demanded in an exasperated tone.

"Why the hell are you blaming me this time, Heero!? Duo was the one that was messing with the door after I told him not to touch anything in the castle!" the winged boy shot back as he turned to glare at the messy haired boy.

Another two groups arrived within seconds of each other just as the long haired teen from the previous group squawked out an adamant denial at being responsible; their close arrival making it appear as if they were one large group instead of two small groups. The first group consisted of three boys; one with messy white hair and blue eyes, one with spiked green tinged black hair and brown eyes, and the third with long reddish black hair and green eyes. The second group had just two people in it; an older male teen with blonde hair and brown eyes and a girl with long black hair tied back in a messy braid and green eyes.

The other thing that set them apart as two different groups was the fact that the two green eyed individuals didn't seem to know each other and their companions didn't recognize the green eyed individual that came with the opposing group; though all three of the other boys were known by all five. All in all, their presence only made things more confusing as the various groups kept casting suspicious glances at the other groups.

"Sport, do you think you can turn the door off and make them go away?" Ash inquired quietly as he sidled up beside Harry and dropped his hand on his shoulder as the seventeen year old's eyes bounced between the red-garbed man (who he was certain looked like him beneath the jacket and glasses) and the other people in the room that looked like him.

"I don't…" Harry began to reply only to cut off as yet another trio of teens and a black dog pushed their way into the crowded room.

The first one was short, just barely four feet tall, with bright green eyes and two ugly scars that started at the top of his head and ran down over his left eye before ending around his chin. Where the two scars disappeared into his hair, the boy's messy dark hair had turned snow white that stood out starkly against the blacker strands. The other two teens looked like slightly younger versions of the bushy haired girl and round faced boy that had arrived with the first group. The black dog sat down and sniffed the air in confusion before it morphed into a man with long, shaggy black hair and piercing blue-grey eyes.

"James, where did you bring us this time? I thought we were going down to the Chamber so that we could work on your spell-casting?" the dog-man inquired as he glanced about the room in confusion.

"We've been shunted to a new server and a new game," the scarred boy stated in an emotionless tone that was just a few decibels louder than the red-jacketed man's soft monotone as he did something with his hand that caused a semi-transparent screen to pop up in front of him. "Apparently, we've been shunted into an omake of some kind; a side game that is a mish-mesh of several different games. My guess is that it is a glitch that brought us here and once it is fixed we'll be shunted back to our former game so we can pick up where we left off. Unless my consciousness has been permanently shifted like it was when I first woke up in MaM after SAO self-destructed and it brought the four of you along for some reason."

The scarred boy's explanation seemed to be some sort of signal as the moment he finished speaking, all of the other individuals began talking over one another as they demanded answers from everyone present. Accusations were flowing fast and thick between individuals and groups and more than a couple of people were claiming to be the same person. The weirdest part was that there was one individual in each group that was claiming to be the **real** Harry Potter; even though none of them actually went by the name Harry Potter.

"_**Enough is enough!**_" Harry cried out as the weirdness of his portal spitting out so many strange people on top of the other weird things that had been happening since he first opened the door unlocked something inside of him. "_**Be gone! All of you need to leave now! You do not belong here and if you do not leave now you will unmake all of our worlds!**_"

As if that was a signal they had been waiting for, all twelve of Harry's bonded Pokémon fired off their strongest attacks (with the two unevolved eevees using Helping Hand to help their siblings) at the unwanted visitors. The mechanical wolf was the last visitor to tumble back into the portal on a wave of salt water and it howled out in frustration as its claws grabbed hold of the doors and pulled them shut as it was sucked into the portal. Silence fell over the Ketchum's living room with the slamming of the doors and Harry blinked at the suddenly emptied room in confusion as he came back to himself.

"Where did all of the strangers go?" Harry asked as he swung his gaze sideways to stare at his father in confusion. "You know what, never mind; I don't want to know." So saying, Harry walked up to the magical portal and shoved the couch in front of the doors to prevent them from being opened again. "I've had enough madness for one day; I'm going back to bed. The wizarding world can wait for another day."

"Works for me," Ash agreed in a dazed tone as he kept glancing between his son and the barricaded magical portal.

_Outside the Ketchum house, a small pink cat-like creature giggled to itself in amusement before flying off._

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> _Whoa what a trip! This omake was a ball to write and I couldn't stop giggling the entire time I was writing it; which is why it took so long to write (because I couldn't stop laughing long enough to type!). I'd actually been flipping between having some of my various versions of 'Harry Potter' visiting the Ketchums or having the Ketchums visiting the worlds of my other Harrys and decided it would take too much to make them hop worlds and had the others step into their world instead. _

_For those of you who are wondering, here is a list of the groups and the names of the stories in which they appear (whether or not the stories have been posted):_

_1__st__ group: from my Natsume Yujincho x HP crossover __**Haunted**__ – Natsume Ryuu (Harry Potter), Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Hatake Kakashi (an OC that is based upon Kakashi from Naruto). _

_2__nd__ group: from one of my unposted Naruto x HP crossovers __**Bug Boy**__ – Aburame Satoshi (Harry Potter), Hatake Kakashi, Hagane Kotetsu, Kamizuki Izumo, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Uzumaki Naruto._

_3__rd__ group: from my Gundam Wing x HP crossover __**Banished Destiny**__ – Taliesin Bard (Harry Potter), Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre R. Winner, Wufei Chang, and Wolfstar (the mechanical wolf – former Wing Zero). _

_4__th__ group: from my unposted Hunter x Hunter x HP crossover __**Hunter x in the x Making**__ – James Evans (Harry Potter), Killua Zoldyck, and Gon Freecss._

_5__th__ group: from my unposted Hunter x Hunter x HP crossover __**Dark x Wizard x Hunter**__ – Harriet Azalea Potter (Fem Harry Potter) and Kurapika._

_6__th__ group: from my unposted Sword Art Online x HP crossover __**Magic Online**__ – James Mills (Harry Potter), Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Padfoot/Sirius Black._

_Anywho… for those of you who are waiting for the posting of Year 2 of The Wizard's World, I've finally uploaded and posting the first chapter! I also have two more omakes that will be posted to this story when I find the time to finish cleaning them up; one relating the prank that saw Spy Cat earning his name and one dealing with Hermione's memory loss. I'd like to thank everyone who left a review; they were much appreciated. I hope everyone enjoyed the spoof. ~ Jenn_


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